How do you know when a campaign is performing above expectations? When it can start pulling television ads off the air in battleground states.
That’s what the Hillary Clinton campaign has done in Virginia and Colorado after developing a wide lead in those two key states that they believe is solid.
A new Monmouth University poll out this morning finds Clinton leading GOP nominee Donald Trump by 13 points among “likely” voters.
- HILLARY CLINTON 50%
- DONALD TRUMP 37%
- GARY JOHNSON 7%
- JILL STEIN 3%
Only 3 percent of likely voters are undecided.
What’s most important for the Clinton campaign is that she now leads in the battleground states. The ten states that were decided by less than seven points in the 2012 election, including Ohio and Florida. She holds a 42% to 34% edge over Trump in these states.
Clinton has improved dramatically with independents, now trailing Trump by two points 32% to 30%. Before the conventions, Trump led with independents by 9 points.
Only 27% of voters feel that Trump has the right temperament to be president (down from 32% in July) while 67% say he does not (up from 61%).
The Clinton campaign is now considering devoting financial resources to two traditionally Republican states, Arizona and Georgia. Several polls from both states show her running close to Trump. Democrats are now spending $23 million in new television ad time starting today in just three states: Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Trump keeps insisting that he has “states that no other Republican would do well in that I think I’m going to win” but he will not identify them. Polls show him running way behind in New Jersey, New York and California.