Gary Johnson's Poll Numbers Rising in Battleground States
Libertarian appeal growing in Virginia, Florida, North Carolina; Johnson hits 15% in Colorado.
Very promising poll numbers released this morning from Wall Street Journal/NBC/Marist, showing support for Gary Johnson and his Libertarian ticket growing in some battleground states.
For example, in Virginia Johnson went from 10 percent support last month to 12 percent in this new August poll, which was conducted from August 4-10. When Johnson and the Green Party's Jill Stein are added to the presidential question, they shave three percentage points from Hillary Clinton (46 percent to 43) and two from Donald Trump (33 percent to 31).
In the wild west state of Colorado, Johnson hits the magic 15 (which he must get nationally in at least five polls to get into the presidential debates), up from 13 percent last month. In that state, the addition of Johnson and Stein to the mix cuts five points off Clinton (46 percent to 41) and three off Trump (32 to 29).
Both states show Clinton, obviously, far ahead of her Republican opponent, whose support in both states fell since July.
Johnson is also up from July in Florida, going from 7 percent to 9. And in North Carolina as well, the same jump from 7 to 9. None of those state polls give the slightest bit of encouragement to Trump and the Republicans.
More from The Wall Street Journal on the poll's larger national significance and technical details:
The results reinforce the findings of other national and battleground-state polls taken in the past two weeks: In the wake of the two parties' conventions and amid a series of setbacks for the Trump campaign, Mrs. Clinton has consolidated her base and widened her lead on a number of fronts….
Mrs. Clinton also continues to hold a dominant position in all four states when the field of choices is broadened to include Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein. In a four-way race, Mrs. Clinton draws more than 40% of the vote in all four states. In two, Colorado and Virginia, Mr. Johnson breaks into the double digits.The poll also found that voters in all four states continue to have unfavorable impressions of both major-party nominees. For Mrs. Clinton, her negative ratings range from 52%, in Florida, to 59%, in Colorado. Mr. Trump's negative ratings range from 62%, in North Carolina, to 69%, in Colorado.
[Clinton] is backed by 92% of Democrats; Mr. Trump is supported by 79% of Republicans.
The polls surveyed 862 registered voters in Florida, 897 in Virginia and 899 in Colorado, and have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points. Also surveyed were 921 registered voters in North Carolina, with a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.
NBC's own account of the poll.
Matt Welch last week schooled those who mistakenly stated that Johnson's polling was in some sort of free-fall.