Hillary Clinton is up 4 in North Carolina and 8 in Pennsylvania, CBS News polling reported Sunday but she remains dogged by voter concern about her email controversy.
The latest numbers add to Clinton’s advantage in the nation’s battleground states, CBS found. She’s ahead in 11 swing states, while Republican nominee Donald Trump is up in two.
Trump has led in Arizona and Georgia in recent surveys while Clinton has been up in Florida, Iowa, Colorado, Michigan, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
“The map overall continues to favor Clinton, and the demographic patterns are the same as we’ve seen before and seen elsewhere, in this regard reflecting a somewhat stable race,” said CBS News Elections Director Anthony Salvanto Sunday in an analysis. “Clinton relies on younger voters, African American voters, on moderates, and on doing relatively well with those with college and postgraduate degrees.”
Clinton, though, does face challenges. “For Clinton, doubts about her explanations of the email server continue to weigh on her,” CBS found. In the battleground states, 46 percent said her explanations are changing and getting less believable, while 7 percent said she was getting more believable.
In North Carolina, where CBS surveyed voters August 30 through Sept. 2, 43 percent said Clinton’s explanations were changing and getting less believable. The Pennsylvania survey, taken at the same time, found 44 percent saying Clinton’s explanations were changing and getting less believable.
Trump’s highlight last week was his trip to Mexico and speech on immigration. Forty-seven percent of voters in the battlegrounds said his immigration policies haven’t changed, while 37 percent said he’s softened his view on undocumented immigrants. In North Carolina, 46 percent said Trump’s views were the same as they’ve always been.
“Neither of those views appears to have done much to his vote share, though it illustrates the difficulty he may have satisfying both his base and trying to broaden his appeal on the topic,” CBS found.
The North Carolina survey found Trump and Clinton benefiting from voters’ disdain for opponents. Forty-nine percent said they were backing
Trump mainly because opposed Clinton. Thirty-six percent said they backed Clinton largely because they opposed Trump.
David Lightman: 202-383-6101, @lightmandavid