Two new polls show former U.S. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton with a slight lead in the race for Ohio’s electoral votes.
A survey by Public Policy Polling, taken from Oct. 5-6 after the first presidential debate, showed the Democratic nominee leading her Republican rival, real estate tycoon and reality TV star Donald Trump, 44 to 43 percent. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson polled at 5 percent and Green Party candidate Jill Stein received 2 percent.
Clinton’s lead in the survey of 782 voters was within the poll’s margin of error of +/- 3.5 percent, but a second survey echoed the findings.
A Monmouth University poll, conducted from Oct. 1-4, showed Clinton leading Trump in the state, 44 to 42 percent. Johnson received 5 percent and Stein 1 percent.
The survey of 405 likely voters has a margin of error of +/- 4.9 percent.
Clinton maintained a lead in Ohio, following the party conventions, but Trump had overtaken her in September polling. The PPP and Monmouth polls are the first conducted in the state after the convention.
Both polls were conducted before the release of a video from Trump on Friday, which contained controversial comments about women.
Clinton’s has retaken the lead nationally following the first debate, in which polls found those who watched viewed it as a solid win for the Democratic candidate.
Political observer Nate Silver of 538.com has moved Ohio into Clinton’s column in his electoral predictions, and now says the Democrats have an 86.5 percent of winning the state if the election were held today.
Meanwhile, Charlie Cook, of the Cook Political Report, and poll-tallying site RealClearPolitics have the state listed in the “toss-up” category.
In Ohio’s race for U.S. Senate PPP found Republican incumbent Rob Portman with a strong lead over his Democratic challenger, former Gov. Ted Strickland, 51 to 36 percent. Monmouth also gave Portman a 15-point lead over Strickland, 54 to 39 percent.