Hillary Clinton is ahead of Donald Trump in the swing states of Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, according to new Quinnipiac University polls released Tuesday.
“Secretary Hillary Clinton is pulling ahead in Florida, but the pictures in Ohio and Pennsylvania are much less clear,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac Poll, said.
In Ohio, Clinton leads with 38 percent of the vote, followed by Trump at 36 percent, Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson at 8 percent and Green Party candidate Jill Stein at 2 percent. Without the third-party candidates included, Trump and Clinton are tied in Ohio at 40 percent.
Clinton leads in Pennsylvania with 39 percent of the vote, followed by Trump at 36 percent, Johnson at 9 percent and Stein at 4 percent. Clinton is up by one in a head-to-head matchup in Pennsylvania. In Florida, Clinton enjoys a larger lead with 42 percent, followed by Trump at 36 percent, Johnson at 7 percent, and Stein at 3 percent. Head-to-head Clinton leads Florida by 8 points.
The polls show voters are continuing to split along racial lines. In all three swing states, Clinton gets less then 40 percent of the white vote and Trump doesn’t get more than 15 percent of the non-white vote.
The two presumptive major party candidates suffer from poor favorability numbers. In Florida, 39 percent of voters view Clinton positively, while 53 percent view her negatively. Thirty-three percent of Sunshine state voters view Trump favorably, while 61 percent hold a negative opinion of him.
In Ohio, 35 percent of voters view Clinton favorably, compared to 32 percent for Trump. Both are viewed negatively by 59 percent of voters. Forty-one percent of Pennsylvania voters view Clinton favorably and 56 percent hold an unfavorable opinion of her. Trump is viewed favorably by 35 percent of voters in the Keystone State and negatively by 60 percent.
Across the board, voters said they view Trump to be more honest than Hillary, but they think Hillary is more intelligent. In all three swing states, close to 60 percent of voters believe Hillary is better prepared to serve in the Oval Office.
Voters in all three states also believe Trump would be better at creating jobs and fighting ISIS.
The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted between June 8 and June 19. In Florida, 975 voters were polled and the margin of error was 3.1 percent. In Ohio, 971 voters were surveyed with a margin of error of 3.1 percent. In Pennsylvania, 950 voters were polled with a margin of error of 3.2 percent.
