Morning Call/Muhlenberg Poll: Clinton 47% Trump 38%

Written by Nick Field, Managing Editor

Hillary Clinton is still ahead in the Keystone State.

That’s according to the latest Morning Call/Muhlenberg College Poll which found Clinton with 47% and Donald Trump at 38%.

When Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein are added, Clinton holds a 40% to 32% advantage. Johnson got 14%, while Stein received 5%.

According to Laura Olson of the Morning Call, Clinton’s lead with Democrats (81/11) is larger than Trump’s with Republicans (71/10). Independents also favor Hillary Clinton (42/33).

Additionally, the survey has Hillary ahead eighteen points among women and tied with men.

The education gap is also once again present. Clinton has just a one point, 43% to 42%, advantage with whites without a college degree compared to a sixteen point, 51% to 35%, lead among whites with a college degree.

The former Secretary of State’s strength is coming from the Southeastern portion of the state where she’s ahead 56% to 26%. Her lead is just three points in the Southwest while Trump holds a 48% to 37% advantage everywhere else.

These results are particularly noteworthy given the period of time in which the survey was taken, September 12th to 16th.

On September 10th, the Trump campaign pointed to a new section of Clinton’s stump speech in which she stated that half of her opponent’s supporters belong in a “basket of deplorables”. The hope was that this remark would have a similar effect to the way Mitt Romney’s “47% comment” in 2012 hurt his poll numbers.

Then the next day, Clinton had trouble walking without assistance as she left an event at the 9/11 memorial in New York City. Her campaign revealed that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia two days before and that she became overheated and dehydrated during the ceremony. Donald Trump and conservative media have sought to make Clinton’s health an issue since she received a concussion in 2012, going so far as to note whenever she had a coughing fit.

The fact that these incidents have apparently not dented her support in the Keystone State (as they have in other battlegrounds like Florida, Ohio and North Carolina) suggests Pennsylvania will be a difficult state to pry out of the blue column.

The Morning Call/Muhlenberg Poll was conducted by Muhlenberg University from September 12th to 16th. They surveyed 400 likely Pennsylvania voters. The margin of error is +/-5.5%.

September 19th, 2016 | Posted in Features, Front Page Stories, Presidential, Top Stories | 10 Comments