Clinton holds slim leads in Fla., NC one day before votes

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton holds slim leads over Republican Donald Trump in North Carolina and Florida, two crucial swing states the candidates are targeting in the final days of the campaign.

According to the latest Quinnipiac University Poll, Clinton leads Trump by 1 point in Florida and 2 points in North Carolina.

{mosads}In a four-way race in Florida, Clinton is at 46 percent, while Trump is at 45 percent. Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson is at 3 percent, and the Green Party’s Jill Stein is at 1 percent.

Clinton has 47 percent support in North Carolina, meanwhile, compared to Trump’s 45 percent. Johnson gets 3 percent.

Trump ticked up 1 percentage point in the state since last Wednesday, when Clinton had 47 percent to Trump’s 44 percent. 

While Trump leads among likely independent voters in North Carolina, early voting favors Clinton. Clinton is at 52 percent among early voters, while Trump is at 40 percent.

In Florida, the race is closer among independent likely voters, with 45 percent going to Clinton and 44 percent to Trump. Clinton has 47 percent of the early votes, while Trump gets 43 percent.

“As the 2016 presidential race hits the finish line, both Florida and North Carolina are virtual ties with Hillary Clinton at 46 percent in Florida and 47 percent in North Carolina and Donald Trump at 45 percent in each state,” Robert Brown, assistant director of the poll, said in a press release.

“There is no realistic scenario under which Trump can win the White House without those two states, while Clinton might get there without them, but it’s not a road she wants to travel,” said Brown.

“While neither of these states is likely to be as close as the 548 votes in Florida that decided the 2000 election, both states could keep the country up counting ballots well into Wednesday morning and perhaps beyond,” he added.

The polls of 884 likely voters in Florida and 870 likely voters in North Carolina, conducted between Nov. 3 and 6, have margins of error of 3.3 percentage points.

Clinton and Trump are separated by two-tenths of a percentage point in Florida, according to a RealClearPolitics average of state polling. In North Carolina, Trump has a lead of slightly more than 1 point in that index.