New poll: Donald Trump up 5 over Hillary Clinton in Ohio

Republican Donald Trump holds a 5-point lead over Democrat Hillary Clinton in Ohio, where her support among women is collapsing, according to a new poll released Wednesday by Quinnipiac University.

If the election were today, Trump would get 46 percent to Clinton’s 41 percent while independent Gary Johnson would pull 5 percent of the vote and Green Party candidate Jill Stein would get 2 percent, the poll found. Women voters are now split 44-44 in Ohio while 17 days ago Clinton held a 12-point lead in the same poll with female voters.

Peter Brown, Quinnipiac University assistant poll director, offered no explanation for the finding that Clinton’s support among Ohio woman is eroding, other than Trump is doing better overall in Ohio than he is in other swing states.

Quinnipiac reported on Wednesday that Clinton holds slim leads in other key states: One point in Florida, three points in North Carolina and five points in Pennsylvania.

Unlike in Ohio, Clinton’s support among women in Pennsylvania grew from a 15-point edge to a 20-point lead and her support among Florida women dropped from 15-point lead to a 6-point advantage, according to the Quinnipiac polls.

“No one has been elected president since 1960 without carrying two of the key swing states, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. And, this year, North Carolina has been added to the mix. All four of these key states remain close entering the final days,” Brown said in a written statement. “Florida, which has the largest cache of electoral votes, is a virtual tie and North Carolina is almost as close. Donald Trump’s strength is with independent voters.”

In Ohio, Clinton has a commanding lead — 58-32 percent — among early voters while Trump holds an 18-point lead among independents.

The poll shows Trump leading among men by 10 points but the two major party candidates tied among Ohio women, 44-44.

Just 17 days ago, the same poll showed the race tied 45-45 in Ohio and Clinton leading in Pennsylvania by six points and in Florida by four points. At that point, Clinton had just dominated two debates and Trump was reeling from the release of a 2005 hot mic video that showed him bragging about grabbing women by the genitals and kissing them against their will because his celebrity allowed him to get away with it.

But last Friday, the FBI bombshell hit the Clinton campaign: emails found on devices used by her top aide Huma Abedin and her estranged husband, former Congressman Anthony Weiner, would be reviewed to see if they contained classified material.

The most recent poll was conducted Oct. 27 to Nov. 1 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points in Ohio.

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