Trump's electoral path to victory narrowing
NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - Since the democratic national convention last month, Donald Trump has been in a slump. A new Bloomberg Politics poll shows Hillary Clinton ahead by 6 points nationwide.
This follows a string of bad polling news for Trump. In fact according to the website Real Clear Politics, which aggregates and tracks presidential polling, 19 of the 20 latest polls conducted on the presidential race show Clinton leading by an average of almost 8 points.
Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist Poll, says Trump's pathways to 270 electoral votes are narrowing while Clinton is widening the electoral map.
And it's not just the national numbers presenting problems for Trump. Three swing states -- Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania -- will prove critical this fall.
New polls from Quinnipiac show Clinton leading by 10 in Pennsylvania, 4 in Ohio, and neck and neck with Trump in Florida. Tim Malloy, an assistant director of the Quinnipiac Poll, says the election could come down to those three states. Whoever wins two of the three will win the election.
Clinton's big lead in Pennsylvania could prove to be key. If she wins there and gets Colorado and Virginia -- two states she currently leads Trump -- would leave GOP nominee no room for error. He would need to win Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Ohio.
Marist's Miringoff says the electoral map is already tilting in the Democrats' favor, which makes it imperative for trump to close the national gap.
Another problem area for Trump is a shrinking lead among some key demographics. Among men, Trump now leads Clinton by only 5 points down from 16 points two weeks ago, according to an NBC News/Survey Monkey online poll. Among women, the same poll shows Clinton's lead expanding. She now tops trump by 24 points, compared to 14 points two weeks ago.
All this plus paltry polling among black and Hispanic voters leaves Trump with a lot of catching up to do. Quinnipiac's Malloy said Trump would have to swing blacks, Hispanics, and women his way but right now there is no indication he is doing that.