Poll: Clinton leads Trump by 2 in Arizona

Hillary Clinton holds a slight lead over Donald Trump in the traditionally Republican-friendly state of Arizona, and the two are neck-and-neck in Florida and Nevada, according to an Emerson College poll released Thursday.

{mosads}Emerson reports Clinton leading Trump, 44 percent to 42 percent, in Arizona, though the business mogul is averaging a 1.3 point lead in recent polls, according to RealClearPolitics.

Former President Bill Clinton was the last Democrat to win the state, edging out Republican Bob Dole in 1996 by about 2 percentage points.

Some credit Clinton’s victory in the Grand Canyon State that year to Reform Party nominee Ross Perot drawing valuable votes from Dole. Perot won 8 percent of the vote in Arizona.

This year, the Emerson poll shows that another third-party candidate, Libertarian Gary Johnson, is registering 9 percent support in Arizona.

Trump, meanwhile, holds a 1-point lead in Florida, outpacing Clinton 45 percent to 44 percent in the massive swing state.

The last three Florida polls before the Emerson survey showed Clinton leading. She averages a lead of 2.2 points in a sample of recent polls in the state that includes Thursday’s poll, according to RealClearPolitics.

And in Nevada, the two candidates are tied at 43 percent. RealClearPolitics shows that Clinton averages a 1.4-point lead in Nevada polls and that she led in the last three surveys of the state.

Clinton holds double-digit leads among Hispanics in all three states, where those voters account for a significant portion of the electorate. 

Hispanics favor the former secretary of State over Trump by 38 points in Nevada, 14 points in Arizona and 23 points in Florida.

The poll also showed that Clinton has a commanding 20-point lead in Rhode Island.

The polls were conducted in English and Spanish from Oct. 2 to 4. It surveyed 700 likely voters in Nevada for a margin of error of 3.6 percentage points. The Florida, Rhode Island and Arizona results were all based on samples of 600 likely voters with margins of error of 3.9 percentage points.