Likely Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has a 3-point lead over presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump in Virginia, according to a poll released Thursday.
Mrs. Clinton was at 42 percent support in the poll from the Democratic-leaning firm Public Policy Polling, with Mr. Trump at 39 percent, Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson at 6 percent, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein at 2 percent.
In a head-to-head match-up, Mrs. Clinton still led Mr. Trump by 3 points, 48 percent to 45 percent.
In both prospective scenarios, Mrs. Clinton had a higher percentage of support from Democrats than Mr. Trump did among Republicans.
But Mr. Trump had a 13-point advantage among independents in the four-way contest and an 8-point edge among independents in the head-to-head against Mrs. Clinton.
And a polling memo said Mrs. Clinton is still having some trouble getting fans of Sen. Bernard Sanders to consolidate around her.
Among Democrats or or independents with a favorable view of Mr. Sanders, Mrs. Clinton got 68 percent support, compared to 8 percent for Mr. Trump, 7 percent for Mr. Johnson, and 5 percent for Ms. Stein, with 12 percent undecided.
“Virginia’s looking pretty close in the presidential race right now,” said PPP President Dean Debnam.
“But the main reason it’s looking so competitive is that there are still a lot of Bernie Sanders fans reluctant to support her in the general,” Mr. Debnam said. “If she can get them on board in the weeks ahead she’ll be a much clearer favorite there.”
PPP found a similar pattern in recent polling on Pennsylvania and Florida, where surveys showed Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Trump in a virtual dead heat.
And on a generic presidential preference question in Virginia, the Democratic candidate held just a two-point, 46 percent to 44 percent lead over the Republican candidate.
Former Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, who ran for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, said on MSNBC earlier this year that he wasn’t sure who he was going to vote for, but that he would not vote for Mrs. Clinton.
With a hypothetical Trump-Webb ticket, Mrs. Clinton’s lead actually expanded to 6 points, 47 percent to 41 percent.
Mrs. Clinton held identical 4-point, 47 percent to 43 percent, leads over Mr. Trump on test runs with Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Tim Kaine of Virginia and Mark Warner of Virginia as her possible running mates.
Virginia had been somewhat of an afterthought for some time in presidential politics. A Democratic nominee hadn’t carried the state since 1964 until President Obama won it in 2008 and again in 2012.
The Virginia poll was conducted from June 13-15 — after the deadly terrorist attack in Orlando on Sunday in which 49 people were killed and more than 50 others were injured.
Congressional Democrats are now launching a new push for gun controls in the wake of the attack. Nearly nine in 10 voters said they support requiring a criminal background check of every person who wants to buy a firearm, and a similar percentage said they would support a bill barring people on the terrorist watch list from purchasing a firearm.
A majority — 55 percent — said they support a nationwide ban on the sale of so-called assault weapons.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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