Poll: Clinton, Trump tied in battleground Ohio

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are tied in the swing state of Ohio just weeks before the election, a poll released Thursday shows. 

{mosads}The new Suffolk University poll shows both candidates tied at 45 percent support among likely voters in Ohio. 

In a version of the poll conducted last month, Trump (R) led Clinton (D) by 3 points, 42 percent to 39 percent. 

“The race couldn’t get any closer in the Buckeye State,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Research Center in Boston.

“Hillary Clinton has closed the narrow gap with Donald Trump since September, and the final outcome in Ohio could come down to the energy of each candidate’s base and the respective campaigns’ get-out-the-vote operations.”

The poll also shows Libertarian Gary Johnson with 2 percent, down from 4 percent last month. Jill Stein of the Green Party has 1 percent support, and 5 percent are undecided. 

Paleologos noted that Trump has seen a dramatic decline in support among self-identified independent voters. 

In September, Trump led among independents by 27 points.  The most recent poll only gives him a 6-point lead in that voting bloc, with 10 percent of independents still undecided. 

“If Clinton takes the lead among independents, she wins Ohio. If those remaining undecided independents tip back to Trump, he will prevail,” Paleologos said. 

The poll also gives incumbent Republican Sen. Rob Portman a 15-point lead over his Democratic challenger, Ted Strickland. Portman has 46 percent support, and Strickland has 31 percent. 

The poll of 500 likely voters was conducted from Oct. 17 to 19 and has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.

Trump has a lead of less than 1 point in Ohio, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polling.