Poll: Trump leads Clinton by 7 points in Indiana

By Mark Hensch
September 09, 2016, 12:40 pm

Donald Trump has a 7-point edge over Hillary Clinton in Indiana, a new poll finds.

Trump (R) receives 43 percent support among Indiana’s likely voters, compared with 36 percent for Clinton (D), according to the WTHR/Howey Politics survey released Friday.

Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson ranks third, with 11 percent, and 1 percent are voting for another candidate. Another 6 percent remain undecided, and 3 percent say they don't plan to vote in November.

Friday’s results show Clinton and Trump are both struggling with negative perceptions in the state.

Fifty-four percent of people in the poll view Trump unfavorably, while 42 percent see the Republican presidential nominee positively.

Clinton is even more disliked, however, with 62 percent seeing the Democrat unfavorably. Only 34 percent have a favorable view of her.

“Why is he winning?” Public Opinions Strategies pollster Gene Ulm asked Howey Politics Friday. "Hillary Clinton. That’s the only thing. Voters are saying, ‘I don’t like that guy, but I hate the other one.’ ”

Ulm said Johnson is hurting Clinton more in Indiana, adding an appearance in the upcoming presidential debates could further boost his performance.

“Which way those Johnson numbers go will be pivotal. So if we see movement after the debate, where Johnson voters go away or shrink, where they move with independent women, that will hold the fate of down-ballot candidates.”

WTHR/Howey Politics conducted its latest sampling of 600 likely voters in Indiana via cellphone and landline interviews Sept. 6–8. It has a 4 percentage point margin of error.

Howey Politics said April’s version of the survey had Trump leading Clinton by 8 points in Indiana, 47 percent to 39 percent. Johnson was not included in that sampling because Libertarians had not yet selected a presidential nominee.

Howey Politics said Trump’s support has fallen a single point since that period despite making Gov. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) his running mate in July.

Several recent polls show a tightening race between Clinton and Trump at both the national and state levels.

Clinton leads Trump by about 3 points, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average of national polls.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/...y-7-in-indiana