Donald Trump in Canton, Ohio on September 14. (Getty)
Donald Trump is beginning to catch up to Hillary Clinton in the battleground state of Virginia, according to a new poll released on Thursday.
The poll, conducted by the University of Mary Washington’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies from September 6th through September 12th, shows Hillary Clinton ahead of Donald Trump by three points, 40 percent to 37 percent. Gary Johnson scored 8 percent of the vote. The race has become far tighter here than it was in August; one poll released on August 17th showed Clinton ahead by 12 points. Another released on August 23rd showed her ahead by 19 points.
And although Real Clear Politics’ Virginia polling average on August 16th showed Clinton ahead 47.5 to 37.5 percent, she is now ahead 44.3 percent to 40.8 percent.
The new Virginia poll once again shows that both candidates have extraordinarily high unfavorable ratings. 45 percent of respondents have a “strongly unfavorable” view of Hillary Clinton, while 52 percent have a “strongly unfavorable” view of Donald Trump. Both candidates are also both seen as dishonest; 64 percent of voters say Hillary Clinton is not honest and trustworthy, and 61 percent say Donald Trump is not honest and trustworthy.
But a majority of Virginia voters, 58 percent, say Hillary Clinton has “strong qualifies of leadership.” For comparison, 48 percent of voters say the same thing about Donald Trump. Also, 56 percent of voters say that Clinton has the right kind of personality and temperament to be president, while only 30 percent say that of Trump. 58 percent say that Clinton is prepared to be president, while 33 percent say Trump is prepared.
Most Virginia voters don’t think Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump understand the problems of people like them; 51 percent of voters say Clinton doesn’t understand their problems, and 64 percent say Trump does not understand.
Finally, 50 percent of the state’s voters say they approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as president.