New York Daily News

Map shows Hillary bulwark vs. Trump

- BY CAMERON JOSEPH

WASHINGTON — With Hillary Clinton appearing solid in 22 states commanding 268 of the 270 Electoral College votes she needs to win, Donald Trump is trying to use last-minute momentum for a last-ditch dive into Democratic-leaning battlegrou­nd states.

National polls have showed Clinton’s nationwide lead narrowing over Trump. But she still holds the advantage in most of the swing state contests, according to recently conducted polling and an analysis of early voting.

Trump is trying to use momentum from the last week to punch through that blue wall Clinton has erected to block him from the White House.

But while he has the wind at his back after a rough stretch for the Democratic candidate, it appears his latest moves are fueled more by desperatio­n than newfound confidence as he lunges for the 270 electoral votes he needs to win.

Trump announced ad buys in Michigan and New Mexico on Tuesday, the first time he’s gone on the air in either state, after recent visits to both.

He also campaigned in Wisconsin and Pennsylvan­ia on Tuesday, two other states that polls show lean toward Clinton.

The moves come as some surveys have shown a tightening in the race nationally, including an ABC/Washington Post poll released Tuesday that found him with a one-percentage-point lead.

But other national and statelevel polling — including some private surveys shared with the Daily News that were conducted entirely after FBI Director James Comey said Friday he would reopen the probe into Clinton’s emails — indicate that the race hasn’t moved all that much toward Trump, even as his team argues he’s made a breakthrou­gh.

“We have seen a dramatic shift since we spoke on Friday. The Trump campaign is on the offensive and expanding our presence in battlegrou­nd states into blue states like Michigan and New Mexico,” argued Trump’s deputy campaign manager, David Bossie, on a Tuesday conference call.

He referred to Comey’s letter that FBI agents had found new emails from top Clinton aide Huma Abedin during an unrelated investigat­ion into her es-

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