Poll: Trump and Clinton tied in North Carolina

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are neck and neck in the swing state of North Carolina, a poll released Thursday shows.

{mosads}The Public Policy Polling survey shows both Clinton and Trump have 43 percent support among registered voters in North Carolina, while 7 percent are undecided, 4 percent support Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson and 2 percent support Jill Stein of the Green Party. 

In a head-to-head match-up, Trump leads Clinton 48 percent to 46 percent, which indicates that he may be losing support to third-party candidates. 

“Johnson, even with only 4 percent support, is very clearly hurting Trump in North Carolina,” writes Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. 

In a poll released at the end of May, Trump led Clinton by 2 points, 43 percent to 41 percent. But a March poll showed Clinton leading by a few points and an April poll had the likely party nominees tied. 

Trump leads Clinton 45 to 42 percent in a RealClearPolitics average of polls.

North Carolina, which offers up 15 electoral votes, was also competitive during the presidential elections in 2008 and 2012. 

The state has voted red in seven of the last eight presidential elections. GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney narrowly won it in 2012, while President Obama scraped a victory together in 2008.

“North Carolina’s really entered the top echelon of swing states,” Debnam wrote. “The race is dead even here and you can see how seriously the campaigns are taking it by virtue of Clinton and Trump both having come here in the last week.” 

The survey polled 947 registered voters on June 20 and 21. The poll has a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.