Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton addresses the The National Education Association Representative Assembly in Washington, Tuesday, July 5. | AP Photo Poll: Clinton leads Trump by 2 in North Carolina

Hillary Clinton holds a narrow lead over Donald Trump among likely voters in North Carolina, a New York Times Upshot/Siena College poll released Thursday morning shows.

With just 47 days to go until November’s general election, the former secretary of state leads the Manhattan billionaire in a head-to-head matchup by two points, 45 percent to 43 percent. That advantage for Clinton sits within the poll’s 3.6 percentage point margin of error.


But in a three-way race that also includes Libertarian Gary Johnson, Clinton and Trump are tied at 41 percent. The former New Mexico governor polled at 11 percent. Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for president, is not on the ballot in North Carolina.

Support for the two major party candidates breaks down largely along racial lines, with Trump leading Clinton among white likely voters, 56 percent to 30 percent. The former secretary of state holds a formidable advantage with the state’s African-American population, leading 91 percent to 4 percent.

The Times’ poll was released one day after a Fox News poll of North Carolina showed Trump with a five-point lead over Clinton, an advantage that sits outside that poll’s margin of error. The Fox News poll also showed incumbent GOP Sen. Richard Burr with a 6 point lead over Democrat Deborah Ross and a 3 point lead for Republican Gov. Pat McCrory over his Democratic challenger, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper.

But the Times’ poll puts Democrats ahead in both the Senate and gubernatorial race. It shows Ross with a 4 point lead, 46 percent to 42 percent, and Cooper with a 6 point lead, 50 percent to 42 percent.

The New York Times poll was conducted with Siena College from Sept. 16-19, reaching 782 likely North Carolina voters via landlines and cell phones. The poll’s margin of error was plus-or-minus 3.6 points.