Story highlights South Carolina is a GOP stronghold

Trump has a small lead over Clinton, a new poll shows

(CNN) A new poll shows Donald Trump leading Hillary Clinton in the traditional Republican stronghold of South Carolina -- but not by much.

The latest survey from Winthrop University , which was conducted entirely before Monday night's first presidential debate, showed Trump with a four-point edge over Clinton among the state's likely voters, 42%-38% in a four-way matchup including the independent candidates. Trump's lead is just inside the poll's 4.5 percent margin of error.

The poll showed Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein garnering six percent and three percent, respectively.

A majority of South Carolina voters don't think too highly of either major party nominee, according to the poll. Fifty-seven percent said they have an unfavorable opinion of Clinton, while 52% of the state's voters said the same of Trump.

A Democrat hasn't carried South Carolina since former President Jimmy Carter in 1976. If Winthrop's findings bear out on Election Day, it would be the best showing in the state for the party's nominee since Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, won re-election in 1996. Clinton, en route to an electoral college landslide, lost in South Carolina that year by about six percentage points to Republican Bob Dole.

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