New polls show Hillary Clinton gaining momentum in Pennsylvania

Hillary Clinton appears to be pulling away in Pennsylvania. Three recent polls of the Quaker State released in the last 24 hours have consistently shown the Democratic presidential candidate with comfortable leads over her Republican rival, Donald Trump.

In a Monmouth University poll published Tuesday, Clinton claimed a lead in the double digits, with 50 percent of likely Pennsylvania voters backing her and 40 percent backing Trump. That's a 2-point bump from the last time the poll was taken in August, when Clinton led Trump 48 percent to 40 percent.

In another poll released Monday by Franklin and Marshall College, Clinton held a 9-point lead among likely voters, 47 percent to 38 percent, and an even larger 12-point lead among registered voters. When the poll was last taken, in September, Clinton's lead was 7 points among likely voters and just 4 percent among registered voters.

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Finally, a Quinnipiac University poll out Monday showed Clinton with a 4-point edge over Trump in Pennsylvania, winning 45 percent support to Trump's 41 percent. That lead is within the poll's margin of error of 4.2 points, however, and unlike the other polls, the Quinnipiac result is actually a slight dip for Clinton; in the previous iteration of the poll, released in early September, she led Trump by 5 points.

The RealClearPolitics polling average shows Pennsylvania generally skewing toward Clinton, with her carrying a 5.4-point lead over Trump across an average of state polls. If that lead sticks, it makes Trump's electoral math a bit tricky: As Politico's Matthew Nussbaum reported, if Trump doesn't win Pennsylvania, he'd have to carry Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Iowa, Nevada, and New Hampshire if he even wants to tie Clinton. Right now, RealClearPolitics polling averages only show Trump leading in Ohio and Iowa.