PPP Poll: Clinton 44% Trump 44%

Written by Nick Field, Managing Editor

It’s a tie. At the moment.

According to the latest Public Policy Polling survey of Pennsylvanians, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump each get 44% in a presidential head-to-head matchup.

There was a gigantic gender gap in the results. Women favor Hillary 54% to 34% while men prefer Donald 55% to 33%.

When candidates from lesser known parties are included, Clinton gains a slight advantage.

The Democrat takes 41% against the Republican’s 40%. This question includes Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Jill Stein who got 6% and 3% respectively.

As for favorability ratings, Clinton received a terrible 35/56 favorable/unfavorable split. Fortunately for her, however, Trump’s 34/59 split was even worse.

Despite all that, when voters were presented with a generic Democrat vs. a generic Republican, the Democrat won out 45% to 41%.

PPP attributed this result to the fact that Hillary Clinton has to win over Bernie Sanders supporters.

“Pennsylvania is a great microcosm of the issue Clinton faces in winning over Sanders fans. Among people who support Sanders in a head to head match up with Trump, only 72% support Clinton in the general,” they write. “10% would go to Trump, 6% to Stein, 4% to Johnson, and 9% are undecided. If Clinton could win over even just half of those Sanders supporting hold outs her lead over Trump would go from a tenuous 41-40 to a comfortable 47-40. Whether it’s possible for her to do that time will tell.”

“The biggest question in the Presidential race at this point is whether hesitant Bernie Sanders fans are going to get behind Hillary Clinton or not,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “In Pennsylvania if the answer to that question is yes, Clinton will be a strong favorite in the state. If the answer to that question is no, the state will be a toss up.”

Public Policy Polling surveyed 1,106 registered voters from June 3rd to 5th. 80% of participants, selected through a list based sample, responded via the phone, while 20% of respondents who did not have landlines conducted the survey over the internet through an opt-in internet panel. The margin of error is +/- 3.0%.

June 8th, 2016 | Posted in Front Page Stories, Presidential, Top Stories | 12 Comments