Trump takes narrow lead over Clinton in Florida

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has overtaken his opponent Hillary Clinton in the battleground state of Florida, with the race too close to call in two other swing states, a new poll showed Wednesday.

"Donald Trump enters the Republican Convention on a small roll in the three most important swing states in the country," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University poll.

Trump was leading 42-39 percent in Florida, compared to a 47-39 Clinton advantage in a June 21 poll. 

In Ohio, Clinton and Trump were tied at 41 percent, while in Pennsylvania, Trump had 43 percent support over Clinton's 41 percent. 

Those are slight changes from June 21, when they were tied 40-40 in Ohio and Clinton had a 42-41 lead in Pennsylvania.

Since 1960, no candidate has won the US presidency without wining at least two of these three battleground states.

The latest Quinnipiac University poll was conducted from June 30 to July 11, amid an FBI investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state.

On July 5, FBI Director James Comey said he would not recommend criminal charges against Clinton, but called her "extremely careless" in her handling of classified data.

"While there is no definite link between Clinton's drop in Florida and the US Justice Department decision not to prosecute her for her handling of emails, she has lost ground to Trump on questions which measure moral standards and honesty," Brown said in a statement.

The poll surveyed voters over the phone and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points in Florida and Pennsylvania, and 3.2 percentage points in Ohio.

Source: AFP