Hillary Clinton's swing state leads are seriously slipping

(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

published 13 July 2016

Hillary Clinton just lost her leads in two key battleground states, a poll by Quinnipiac University out Wednesday revealed. While Clinton led Donald Trump in Florida by 8 points just a month ago, she now lags behind the presumptive GOP nominee by 3 points. In Pennsylvania, a state which Politico noted hasn't voted for a Republican in the presidential election since 1988, Trump is ahead 43 percent to 41 percent. Clinton previously led there by 1 point.

Clinton's slip in these two critical states suggests the race might be closer than indicated by national polls, which forecast that Clinton has a comfortable "mid-single-digit advantage over Trump," Politico reports. Or, as Quinnipiac pollster Peter Brown suggested, Clinton's dip may just have to do with recent events. "While there is no definite link between Clinton's drop in Florida and the U.S. Justice Department decision not to prosecute her for her handling of emails, she has lost ground to Trump on questions which measure moral standards and honesty," Brown said in a press release.

The poll was conducted from June 30 through July 11. In Florida and Pennsylvania, the margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.