Hillary Clinton has opened up a double-digit lead over Donald Trump among likely voters in Pennsylvania — a bad sign for the New York billionaire, who is hoping to put the Democratic leaning state in the Republican column for the first time in nearly three decades.
A Franklin and Marshall College Poll found that Mrs. Clinton received a bigger bounce than Mr. Trump out of their respective party conventions last month and that Mrs. Clinton has more support among members of her own party in a state where Democrats easily outnumber Republicans.
The poll showed Mrs. Clinton leading Mr. Trump by a 49 percent to 38 percent margin among likely voters and 48 percent to 35 percent margin among registered voters.
Mrs. Clinton is viewed in a much more favorable light than Mr. Trump, according to the poll, which also showed a wide gender gap.
Mr. Trump is up 10 percentage points among white men, while Mrs. Clinton is up 28 percentage points among white women.
“More voters believe Secretary Clinton rather than Mr. Trump has the experience to be president and is better prepared to handle foreign policy issues, although they are evenly divided on which candidate is more honest and trustworthy and which candidate has the ability to fix the country’s economic problems,” the poll analysis said.
Mrs. Clinton has the support of 78 percent of registered Democrats and Mr. Trump has the support of 69 percent of registered Republicans.
“Secretary Clinton leads among more sub-groups than Mr. Trump, although Mr. Trump leads among those in the lowest income and education groups, those living in rural counties, self-described conservatives, and men,” the analysis said.
Republicans have not carried Pennsylvania in a presidential election since George H.W. Bush won it in his landslide victory over Democrat Michael Dukakis.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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