Story highlights
Trump has 45%, Clinton 42% and Gary Johnson 8%
Mitt Romney won the state by 8 points in 2012
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are in a tight race in in Georgia, a traditionally deep red state, according to a new poll.
The Republican candidate has 45% to Clinton’s 42% in the Monmouth University poll, within the poll’s margin of error. Libertarian Gary Johnson had the support of 8% of likely voters.
Trump is underperforming previous GOP candidates. Mitt Romney won the state by 8 points in 2012 over President Barack Obama.
The incumbent Republican senator is also out-polling Trump. Sen. Johnny Isakson has a 16-point lead over challenger Jim Barksdale, 50% to 34%.
Clinton’s strength comes from the Atlanta area, where she leads Trump 55% to 35%. But Trump leads her 51% to 33% elsewhere in the Peach State. She leads 88% to 4% among the state’s black voters, but trails 20% to 66% among white voters.
Clinton and Trump have similar favorability ratings in the state. Clinton is viewed 32% favorably and 56% unfavorably. Trump is viewed favorably by 33% of likely voters and unfavorably by 50%.
Monmouth surveyed 401 like Georgia voters from September 15 to 18 for the poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.