Good Political News: Polls Show Trump Falling Behind

Ken AshfordElection 2016, PollsLeave a Comment

Hillary Clinton’s advantage over Donald Trump grew over the course of the last week, according to the results of the latest NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll released today.  The survey was conducted in the same week that Clinton clinched the Democratic nomination and Trump continued his criticism of federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel,

Clinton leads Trump 49 percent to 42 percent.

Clinton narrowed Trump’s lead among men and white voters to single digits over the past week and now leads Trump by 25 points — 58 percent to 33 percent — among voters describing themselves as moderate. Trump led men by 14 points in last week’s survey but now leads by only 9 points in this week’s poll — 51 percent to 42 percent. Among white voters, Trump’s lead also shrank to 9 points, 50 percent to 41 percent.

But what I find more interesting is what is happening to Trump in a couple state polls:

Kansas last went Democratic in a presidential election in 1964, joining 43 other states plus the District of Columbia in choosing Lyndon Baines Johnson, who had ascended to the presidency after the assassination of John Kennedy less than a year before, over conservative firebrand Barry Goldwater. As of Friday, Hillary Rodham Clinton led Donald Trump in Kansas by seven points in the Zogby poll, respondents to which were 44 percent Republican and 28 percent Democratic.

Clinton leads Trump by seven points….. in Kansas?  And how about Utah:

Clinton and Trump are knotted at 35 percent, with five months of campaigning remaining before the election, according to the survey conducted for The Salt Lake Tribune and the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah.

Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson draws 13 percent, a remarkably strong showing for the candidate who garnered 1.2 percent as the party’s candidate four years ago.

Now, granted, these are not states with large electoral college numbers.  But if Trump has a problem throughout all the prairie states, this is incredibly bad for him.

UPDATE [5:05 pm]:  A new Bloomberg poll published just now shows Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump 49 percent to 37 percent – that’s 12 points.  Libertarian candidate Johnson has percent.