Republican Donald Trump's presidential campaign may be seeing Wisconsin as a potential pathway to the White House after the latest round of statewide polling shows Democrat Hillary Clinton's lead shrinking.

The latest Marquette University Law School Poll was released Wednesday and showed Clinton lost about a dozen points — her 15-point lead dropped down to about three points in a two-way race.

It follows what's going on across the United States where the race is tightening a little bit, said Slate political writer Jim Newell.

"But what we need to look at is if it's going to be a dead heat," Newell said. 'If they get tied in national polls, and state polls usually follow the national movement, then what new states are in play? And it looks like Wisconsin is a state where Donald Trump is performing now at or about his national average."

Newell said both leading candidates saw bumps in their polling after their respective conventions, although Clinton more so. Coming out of the Democratic National Convention, Newell said Trump suffered from a series of public gaffes and a campaign shake up. But things seem to have taken a turn thanks to some new-found discipline to stay on message.

"He seems like he's stopped that a little bit. He's been a little more controlled. He has a new campaign manager. So he's coming down from his worst period in the race," Newell said. "Now it's just a matter of seeing if he can begin to convert the swing voters who are still not really set on him," Newell said.

Trump's campaign stops in Wisconsin over the past couple weeks, including a stop in West Bend where the Republican nominee made an explicit pitch to African-American voters, may have contributed to closing the gap.

But it remains to be seen if Wisconsin is truly in play come November, said Newell. Moreover, the electoral map offers a narrow path for the GOP nominee. Even if Trump took every state that Mitt Romney won in 2012 race, and then poached Florida, Iowa, Nevada and Ohio, he'd still be about five electoral votes short.

"So then you have to find another state. And if Wisconsin is moving back and is competitive, that could be the electoral votes he needs to jump over 270," Newell said.