COLUMBUS – Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton barnstormed through Ohio even as a new poll shows her slipping farther behind Republican Donald Trump in what was once considered a must-win battleground state, but which may be fading into irrelevance.
This was Clinton’s first trip to Ohio in a month, but that does not mean the state is no longer important in presidential politics, said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).
“I think Hillary’s not here as much in part because there are so many other states that Democrats can win that they may not have won ten years ago,” he said, citing formerly Republican reliables like Virginia, North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia. “So she’s going to those other states ’cause the map is becoming bigger” for Democratic candidates.
Trump held a 47 to 42 percent lead among likely Ohio voters surveyed by Quinnipiac University between Sept. and Oct. 2.
That was in spite of the fact that Ohioans told the pollsters, by a 2-to-1 margin, that Clinton won the first debate between the two candidates on Sept. 26.
The same poll a month ago showed Clinton trailing by a 41-37 point margin (see below), with independent candidate Gary Johnson getting 14 percent and Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party getting 4 percent. Johnson and Green lost considerable ground in the latest poll, with many of their supporters deserting them for the Trump or Clinton camps.
Quinnipiac Poll
Sept. 8
Trump……………..41%
Clinton…………….37%
Johnson……………14%
Stein……………….…4%
Oct. 3
Trump………………47%
Clinton……………..42%
Johnson……………..6%
Stein…………………..1%
-Source: Quinnipiac University
In previous election years, any sign of shakiness in Ohio would have a campaign on edge. But Democrats’ increasing reliance on minority voters to win presidential elections has opened new avenues to the White House for Clinton, and turned Ohio into a less essential state.
RELATED: Race tightens in other battleground states
Trump’s overwhelming lead among men and a 19-point margin with independent voters outweighs Clinton’s dominance with women, said Peter Brown, assistance director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
“In some states, figuring why one candidate is doing better than the other takes some head-scratching, but not in Ohio,” Brown said. “Trump’s 19-lead among independent voters tells us almost all we need to know. Secretary Clinton must close that gap…”
Brown predicted Clinton would win Franklin County by 100,000 votes. The county, once a Republican stronghold, is now the second-largest Democratic-voting county in the state.
The survey’s margin of error is plus/minus 4.4 points.
Addressing the economy in a speech in Toledo on Monday, Clinton outlined proposals curbing “forced arbitration” clauses in contracts that prevent workers and consumers from taking companies to court and a plan her campaign says would “promote competition, address excessive market concentration and reinvigorate antitrust laws and enforcement.”
“The tax code rewards corporations for outsourcing jobs and their profits overseas instead of investing here in the United States,” she said. “And it is riddled with loopholes that let the rich get even richer and make income inequality even worse.”
She also criticized Trump for reportedly paying no income taxes for 18 years because of a billion-dollar loss.
At a rally in Akron, Clinton urged Ohioans to register to vote ahead of next Tuesday’s Oct. 11 deadline.