HILL’S DEBATE BOOST
Beats out Donald in swing states as poll confirms face-off win
Hillary Clinton took the lead in five key battleground states after the first presidential debate, giving her a solid boost with just over five weeks until Election Day, a poll released Thursday revealed.
Voters in the five states — Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia — also declared Clinton the winner of Monday’s slugfest with Donald Trump, according to the survey by Public Policy Polling.
“Clinton has solid leads in Colorado, Pennsylvania and Virginia — states seen as important to her path to 270 electoral votes — and modest leads in Florida and North Carolina, where wins would be indicative of a dominant overall victory in the Electoral College,” said Tom Jensen, director of Public Policy Polling.
“If these results hold up, Donald Trump has no path to victory.”
In races that included Libertarian and Green Party nominees Gary Johnson and Jill Stein, Clinton led Trump in both Virginia and Colorado by 46 to 40 percent.
She was ahead in Pennsylvania 45 to 39 percent, Florida 45 to 43 percent and North Carolina 44 to 42 percent.
Julian Zelizer, a history and public-affairs professor at Princeton University, said the poll confirmed that Clinton had prevailed at the debate but added that she shouldn’t be breaking out the champagne just yet.
“Given how dramatically her lead narrowed last month, there is clear evidence of a certain fragility with her margins. Also let’s remember if the first debate does have a real impact on the polls, that means the second one can, as well,” Zelizer told The Post.
Matt Hale, a political-science professor at Seton Hall University, said the numbers show Clinton’s stronger shot at winning.
“Clinton has always had an easier path to 270 electoral votes than Trump. The recent swingstate polls are really just confirming that easier path,” he said.
An NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll, meanwhile, showed Trump’s debate performance had damaged his standing among women, with 27 percent of female likely voters saying they thought worse of him afterward.
Thirty percent said their opinion of Clinton improved, while just 11 percent said the same of Trump. Only 13 percent said their opinion of Clinton was worse.
Hale cited Trump’s decision to reiterate his criticism of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado’s weight after Clinton raised it as an issue at the debate.
“At the moment people, and especially women, were paying the most attention ever to the race, Trump decides it is a good time to call a beautiful woman fat,” he said. “It is a wonder he isn’t doing even worse with women.”