Michigan Shock Poll: Hillary Clinton Leads Donald Trump by Just Three Points

Clinton and Trump Campaigning AP Photos

Donald Trump is within striking distance of Hillary Clinton in the deep blue state of Michigan, according to a poll by The Detroit Free Press and WXYZ-TV.

Trump got 35 percent, while Clinton got only 38 percent in the poll of 600 likely Michigan voters, executed Sept. 10 through Sept. 13. Libertarian Gary Johnson followed with 10 percent and Green Party nominee Dr. Jill Stein polled at four percent.

In a Trump v. Clinton two-way, Clinton leads Trump with 42 percent to his 38 percent.

“Trump’s improvement in the polls in the industrial Midwest is important to his campaign,” the newspaper reported“All along, strategists have suggested he needs to tap into disaffected white workers in the region and take states across the Rust Belt to have a chance.”

In the 2012 presidential race, Republican Mitt Romney cited his family connections to Michigan as part of his case. Romney’s father George had been the president of Detroit’s American Motors and served three two-year terms as governor of the state. But when the votes were counted, Romney lost the state to President Barack Obama with only 45 percent of the vote to the president’s 54 percent.

Within the poll, which has a margin of error of four percent, Clinton was strongly preferred over Trump on foreign policy and international relations, by 53 percent to 35 percent.

Clinton was also the favorite over Trump when respondents were asked which candidate had the temperament to serve as commander-in-chief, 53 percent to 35 percent choosing Trump.

However, the respondents thought Trump would make the military strong by49 percent to 38 percent. When asked which candidate would be better at defeating the army of the Islamic State, Trump received 40 percent and Clinton 29 percent.

In terms of honesty and trustworthiness, Michigan likely voters prefer preferred Trump, 37 percent, to Clinton, 30 percent.

In an August poll for The Detroit Free Press and WXYZ-TV, Clinton was the favorite among African-Americans with 85 percent to Trump’s two percent.

In this poll, the margin is tighter because Clinton’s support has dropped to 74 percent, while Trump’s support is apparently stuck at two percent.

The last Republican to win Michigan, which has 16 electoral votes, was Vice President George H.W. Bush in 1988, when he beat Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis.

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