Two key reasons Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are tied in the latest CBS News battleground states poll: People want change, and Trump is seen as more likely to deliver it. But they want ability, and see Clinton as more capable of handling the presidency.
Fifty-give percent of voters in the swing states surveyed by CBS said they want big changes in both the nation’s politics and economy. Forty-three percent seek some changes, and 2 percent see no need for much change.
Trump is far ahead of Clinton on the change question. In the Sept. 14-16 survey, released Sunday, 47 percent said they trust Trump to change the nation’s capital. Twenty percent regard Clinton that way.
But Clinton gets a boost on stature issues. She’s up 47-39 percent when voters are asked who can be trusted to handle the presidency day to day, and by 43-34 percent see her as acting in a way the nation can be proud of.
CBS also found another reason the race stays close: Partisans aren’t budging. It found 86 percent of Democrats said the United States could be “damaged beyond repair” with a Trump victory, while 83 percent thought that way if Clinton wins.
“The underlying part of the call for change are the pervasive, negative views of the economy.,” according to a CBS analysis. “While reports this week suggest the economy was doing better by many traditional measures, many voters do not say it is. Fifty-five percent say the economy is in bad shape.
“The reason, on the whole, is that many voters do not feel the gains are going to them, specifically, nor that opportunity is available for all. Sixty percent outright call the economy unfairly “rigged” in that only “certain people” get advantages that others do not.”
The poll includes voters in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
David Lightman: 202-383-6101, @lightmandavid