Richmond, Virginia: Republican Donald Trump has bounced back slightly in Virginia, according to a new poll released on Friday, but still trailed Democrat Hillary Clinton by double digits in one of the battleground states.
Clinton leads Trump by 12 points in a survey conducted by the Wason Centre for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University. The former secretary of state had a 15-point edge over the real estate mogul and reality TV star in a Wason poll released on Sunday, its first since The Washington Post released a 2005 recording of Trump bragging about groping women.
In the latest poll, Clinton has a 45-to-33 per cent advantage over Trump in the state, whose 13 electoral votes are a key prize in the race for the White House.
“While Trump appears to have recovered a little of the support he lost after the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape, his reach continues to be no higher than the mid-30s,” said Quentin Kidd, director of the Wason Centre. “That ceiling is far too low to win, especially as Clinton’s share continues to rise.”
The rebound varied by region and was non-existent in heavily Democratic northern Virginia, where Clinton continued to gain. She leads there 57 per cent to 21 per cent.
Trump topped 50 per cent for the first time in the state’s south and southwest regions, leading Clinton 51 to 30 per cent in those rural and mountain areas.
“Clinton’s continued rise in northern Virginia tells the larger story of political change in Virginia,” said Rachel Bitecofer, assistant director of the Wason Centre. “Bluer and bluer voters in suburban Washington, and their like in Richmond and Hampton Roads, far outweigh rural voters’ preference for Trump.”
Seventy-two per cent of Republicans said they support Trump while 88 per cent of Democrats back Clinton in the poll, which was conducted on October 16-19 among 834 likely Virginia voters, before the third presidential debate. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 per cent.
Independents moved toward Clinton, mostly at the expense of Libertarian Gary Johnson. Forty-four per cent said they support her, up from 21 per cent in a Wason Centre poll in September.
