Bob Jordan

@BobJordanAPP

Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by 5 points in the battleground state of Florida, according to a Monmouth University poll.

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“Although Clinton’s lead is smaller than in our last poll, she is maintaining her advantage in Florida given the ominous state of her poll standing last week,” pollster Patrick Murray said. “Florida has become less of a crucial battleground now that the campaigns’ attention has turned to the Rust Belt. However, a win here would make the path to 270 electoral votes that much easier for the victor and difficult for the loser.”

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The poll released Tuesday shows that 46 percent of Florida voters likely to participate in November’s presidential election support Democrat Clinton, to 41 percent for Republican Trump. Another 6 percent intend to vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson and 1 percent support Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Five percent are undecided. Polling in August had Clinton at 48 percent and Trump at 39.

Most Florida voters (75 percent) said they have heard about Trump’s recent admission that Barack Obama was born in the U.S. but doubt the GOP nominee’s sincerity. Only 24 percent think that Trump actually believes Obama is a natural born citizen, while the majority (54 percent) say Trump only made the statement for political reasons.

The poll was conducted over four days through Monday and has a margin of error of +4.9 percent.

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Bob Jordan bjordan@gannettnj.com