Quinnipiac: Clinton Up in Florida, Down in Ohio After First Debate

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

The latest poll from Quinnipiac University has voters saying Hillary Clinton won the first presidential debate by a 2-1 margin, but she didn’t get much of a poll bump, except in Florida.

Clinton now leads Donald Trump 46% – 41% in Florida according to this poll, breaking out of a 43%-43% tie in Quinnipiac’s September survey.

However, Trump increased his lead in Ohio. He’s now leading 47%-42%, a slight improvement over his 41%-37% lead in September.

Meanwhile, the poll shows Clinton leading 46%-43% in North Carolina and 45%-41% in Pennsylvania. Both of these leads are within the poll’s margin of error.

Quinnipiac analysts found North Carolina “too close to call,” because Clinton and Trump were evenly matched in support from their parties, independent voters, and their respective sides of the “gender gap.”

Pennsylvania was seen as a “slightly-to-close-to-be-comfortable lead” for Clinton—especially worrisome since poll respondents thought she won the debate by a huge 57%-21% margin.

“With neighboring Ohio leaning to Donald Trump, critical Pennsylvania stays true to Clinton who barely holds her ground from her pre-debate numbers,” said assistant poll director Tim Malloy.

It should be noted that all of these topline results included Libertarian Gary Johnson and Jill Stein of the Green Party, except for North Carolina, where Stein is not on the ballot. Perhaps for that reason, North Carolina was Johnson’s best showing, at 7%.

In a two way race, Clinton leads in Florida by 49%-44%, in North Carolina by 49-46%, and in Pennsylvania by 48%-43%, while Trump leads Ohio by 49%-46%.

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