Hillary Clinton is trouncing Donald Trump in four key battleground states, according to new polling released on Friday.
The Democratic nominee has opened double-digit percentage-point leads in Virginia and Colorado, according to the new Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist poll. Clinton bests Trump by 13 percentage points in Virginia, 46-33, and by 14 points in Colorado, 46-32.
Clinton is also building a sizable lead over the GOP nominee in North Carolina and maintaining her advantage on Trump in Florida. Clinton is ahead of Trump in the Tar Heel State by 9 percentage points, 48-39, and has a 5-percentage-point lead on the GOP nominee in Florida, 44-39.
"These are supposed to be battleground states, but right now, they don't look that way," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, to the Journal about its poll. "Trump still needs to unify Republicans and better position himself among traditional GOP groups in order to make the contest competitive in these must-win states."
When the field is broadened to include Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein, Clinton still wins. But Johnson cracks the double-digit percentage-point threshold in two states — he earned 15 percent support in Colorado and 12 percent support in Virginia.
All four states are critical to determining the outcome of the election, and Clinton victories could mitigate the Democratic nominee's need to earn Electoral College votes in other swing states nationwide.
The WSJ/NBC/Marist polls were conducted from August 4-10. The survey included 899 registered voters in Colorado with a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points, 862 registered voters in Florida with a 3.3-point margin of error, 921 registered voters in North Carolina with a 3.2-point margin of error and 897 registered voters in Virginia with a 3.3-point margin of error.