Poll: Trump tops Clinton among Ohio voters

COLUMBUS — Republican Donald Trump was slightly ahead of Democrat Hillary Clinton among Ohio voters surveyed over the past week by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

But the two frontrunners were statistically tied in two other swing states, and both are disliked by more than half of the voters who were questioned in each of the states.

In Ohio, the billionaire businessman was up 43 percent-39 percent over Clinton, among 1,042 registered voters, in a poll with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

In both Florida and Pennsylvania, it was Clinton 43 percent, Trump 42 percent.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders fared better in Pennsylvania, topping Trump 47 percent-41 percent. But Sanders and Trump were statistically tied in Ohio and Florida.

“Six months from Election Day, the presidential races between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the three most crucial states, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, are too close to call,” Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac Poll, said in a released statement. “At this juncture, Trump is doing better in Pennsylvania than the GOP nominees in 2008 and 2012. And the two candidates are about where their party predecessors were at this point in Ohio and Florida.”

Connecticut-based Quinnipiac regularly gauges voters’ opinions on candidates and issues in Ohio and other swing states.

Its latest poll, conducted over the past week and including several days after Gov. John Kasich and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz suspended their presidential campaigns, included 1,051 Florida voters and 1,077 Pennsylvania voters.

In Ohio, 62 percent of voters had an unfavorable view of Clinton, while 57 percent had a negative view of Trump.

More Ohio voters said Trump would do a better job handling the economy and terrorism.

But more Ohio voters said Clinton had the right kind of temperament to handle an international crisis — 51 percent, versus 29 percent for Trump.

“By wide margins, voters in all three states say Clinton is more intelligent than Trump and by smaller margins, voters in all three states say she has higher moral standards,” Brown said.

On other issues, 75 percent of Ohio voters support requiring a photo identification card in order to vote, and 54 percent thought illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in the country and apply for citizenship.

But 52 percent oppose building a wall along the border of Mexico, versus 45 percent who support the idea.