COLUMBUS – A new poll shows Democrat Hillary Clinton has a slight edge in her presidential contest with Republican Donald Trump among likely Ohio voters.
The latest Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll shows the former secretary of State leading the New York billionaire real estate mogul 49 to 45 percent.
RELATED: Clinton’s lead widens in Reuters/IPSOS poll
The university’s polling center regularly measures the sentiments of voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida because, since 1960, no presidential candidate has won without taking at least of two of those three states, said Peter Brown, assistant director of the poll.
Trump’s running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence campaigns in Moraine and Cambridge Wednesday.
Both presidential candidates had awkward moments behind the podium on the campaign trail Tuesday.
Trump is blaming faulty interpretations and media bias for an uproar over comments about the Second Amendment. At an appearance, he told a crowd that there was nothing they could do if Hillary Clinton became president and stacked the Supreme Court with anti-gun justices, then added ambiguously, “Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is — I don’t know.”
Some Democrats are accusing him of openly encouraging violence.
Meanwhile, the father of the Orlando gay nightclub shooter was spotted at a campaign event for Hillary Clinton in central Florida.
According to the Quinnipiac poll, Clinton‘s lead in Florida is a razor-thin 1 percent but she enjoys a 10-point lead over Trump in Pennsylvania, Brown said.
“The…poll shows a mixed result for the presidential candidates, although with an overall edge for Secretary Hillary Clinton,” Brown said. “She has a double-digit lead in Pennsylvania and the narrowest of edges in Ohio, but Florida, with the largest cache of Electoral College votes is a tie.”
Brown says this poll, conducted between July 30 and August 7, surveyed likely voters and should not be compared to earlier polls of registered voters.
Neither candidate is viewed favorably by the majority of Ohio voters: Clinton by only 40 percent, Trump by 34 percent.
Trump enjoys the backing of whites, men, Republicans and independents while Clinton has the overwhelming support of minorities and Democrats but a narrower edge among women.
The poll of 812 likely Ohio voters has a margin of error of +/- 3.4 percentage points.