Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:27 pm
The CBS News Republicans hoped that FBI Director James Comey’s letter about new Clinton related emails would swing the election for them, but a new series of CBS News Battleground polls shows Clinton keeping her lead and within 2 points of Trump in Arizona.
Battleground tracker found that by a small margin Comey’s letter made Democrats more likely (net +7) to support Clinton.
In the individual battleground states, Clinton leads by eight points in Pennsylvania 48%-40%, North Carolina (48%-45%), and in Colorado (42%-39%). The only state of the four polled where Trump has a small two point lead in Arizona (44%-42%).
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According to CBS News, “And the larger demographic difference defining the race between Clinton and Donald Trump has been a gender gap – slightly larger now than the last time in these states – that offsets a smaller movement of Republicans to Trump.”
To put it another way, Hillary Clinton’s support with women is going up at a larger rate than Republican movement towards Trump.
These are the first swing state polls to be taken since FBI Director Comey released his now infamous letter on Friday. The email story isn’t moving voters. It is reinforcing the partisanship of the election. Democrats are going to vote Clinton. Republicans are going to vote for Trump, and there aren’t enough undecided voters to swing the election to Trump.
Republicans were hoping for a Hail Mary touchdown to save Trump, but Clinton continues to lead in critical states with a little more than a week to go before election day. If the Comey letter is the big October surprise, it isn’t working on voters.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
