New polls see Clinton and Trump neck and neck in battleground states


A new selection of polls from NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist and Reuters/Ipsos sees Republican Donald Trump closing in on Democrat Hillary Clinton in a number of battleground states, narrowing her national lead. Though Reuters still calculates an 83 percent chance of a Clinton win with nearly 50 more Electoral College votes than her rival, it also finds Florida and Ohio — two key swing states — are no longer certain to go blue.
The NBC survey, meanwhile, found Clinton and Trump in a statistical tie in four states which were not much in dispute for the last two elections. Arizona and Georgia were previously Republican strongholds while Nevada and New Hampshire both went for President Obama in the last two cycles, but this year they are competitive for both parties.
Data from a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Saturday night suggests Clinton's shrinking advantage may be due to lagging enthusiasm among her voters as compared to Trump supporters: His backers are more likely to say they are excited about their candidate, following the election closely, and certain they will vote come Election Day.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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