Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Planned Parenthood: 'The fate of our rights' depends on Ginsburg replacement Progressive group to spend M in ad campaign on Supreme Court vacancy MORE (R-Ky.) predicted Tuesday that Donald Trump Donald John TrumpObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Planned Parenthood: 'The fate of our rights' depends on Ginsburg replacement Progressive group to spend M in ad campaign on Supreme Court vacancy MORE, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, will be more competitive in November than many political analysts expect.

McConnell told reporters he is buoyed by a new Quinnipiac poll showing Trump within a few points of likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonWhat Senate Republicans have said about election-year Supreme Court vacancies Bipartisan praise pours in after Ginsburg's death Trump carries on with rally, unaware of Ginsburg's death MORE in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, three crucial battlegrounds.

“It looks to me like at the beginning of the race, Florida and Pennsylvania and Ohio look pretty competitive,” he said.

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The Quinnipiac survey, conducted from April 27 to May 8, showed Trump leading Clinton by 4 points in Ohio and trailing the former first lady by only 1 point in Florida and Pennsylvania.

McConnell told reporters at the end of last year that he saw it as extremely important the eventual GOP nominee for president be able to win in swing states. At the time, his comments were interpreted as indicating a preference for more mainstream candidates such as Sen. Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioFlorida senators pushing to keep Daylight Savings Time during pandemic Hillicon Valley: DOJ indicts Chinese, Malaysian hackers accused of targeting over 100 organizations | GOP senators raise concerns over Oracle-TikTok deal | QAnon awareness jumps in new poll Intelligence chief says Congress will get some in-person election security briefings MORE (R-Fla.) or former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

McConnell said he is looking forward to meeting with Trump on Thursday morning at the National Senatorial Campaign Committee office, near the Capitol.

“I think most of my members believe he’s won the nomination the old fashioned way. He got more votes than anybody else, and we respect the voices of the Republican primary voters across the country, and we’ll sit down and talk about the way forward,” he said.

He declined, however, to say what specific points he would bring up with the real estate mogul.

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Earlier this year McConnell advised Trump in a phone call to condemn the violent confrontations that had erupted at several of his rallies.

And last year he panned Trump’s proposal to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country as “inconsistent with American values.”

While many Senate Republicans would have preferred another nominee, they are starting to rally around him as a better alternative to Clinton and extended Democratic control of the executive branch.

“We know the alternative is four more years like the last eight. I don’t think the American people are thrilled,” McConnell said, citing sluggish economic growth, which slowed to 0.5 percent in the first quarter of this year.

“We know Hillary Clinton will be four more years of Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Senate Republicans face tough decision on replacing Ginsburg Cruz: Trump should nominate a Supreme Court justice next week MORE. I think that’s going to in the end be enough to unify Republicans across the country,” he added.