Hillary Clinton Holds Double-Digit Lead In PA Over Donald Trump, New Poll Shows

Hillary Clinton is out to a double-digit lead over Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, a new poll shows, extending the former secretary of state's advantage in a state seen as a must-win for Trump if he wants to have any chance at winning in the general election.

Clinton leads Trump 49 to 38 percent among registered voters, according to a Franklin and Marshall College poll, and her lead is even bigger — 48 to 35 percent — among likely voters.

The poll surveyed 661 registered voters between July 29 and Aug. 1, as Trump was under heavy fire for criticizing the Muslim family of an American soldier. The margin of error was 4.8 percent overall and 6.3 points for just the likely voters.

Pennsylvania has not voted for a Republican since choosing George H.W. Bush in 1988, but Trump has frequently boasted about putting the state in play because of its concentration of white, blue-collar voters.

In the poll, whites with a high school education or less went 53 to 31 percent for Trump, while college-educated whites chose Clinton 58 to 28 percent. Trump held an advantage among white men 45 to 35 percent, but Clinton won white women 57 to 29 percent.

In an electoral map that has historically favored Democrats, experts have said that Trump needs to win Pennsylvania, along with Ohio and Florida, to have a fighting chance at beating Clinton.

But the Republican nominee has a lot of work to do in the Keystone State.

According to a RealClearPolitics average of three major state polls — Franklin and Marshall, Public Policy Polling and Suffolk University — Clinton leads Trump by 8 percent. Trump holds a slim 0.3 percent lead in Florida, the RCP average shows, while Clinton is up 0.8 percent in Ohio.

Nationally, Clinton has increased her lead to 5.9 percent following the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

Images: Hillary Clinton via Gage Skidmore, Flickr, used under Creative Commons; Donald Trump via Rick Uldrichs, Patch