Clinton ‘virtually tied’ with Trump in SC, poll shows

Just how close is the presidential race in South Carolina? Maybe closer than you think.

A new Palmetto State poll by Public Policy Polling shows Hillary Clinton is within two percentage points of Donald Trump in South Carolina.

Trump has the support of 41 percent of S.C. voters, the poll found, with Clinton at 39 percent.

“The closeness is a function of Democrats being a lot happier with their party's candidate than Republicans are with theirs,” Public Policy wrote in releasing the poll results.

The poll found Clinton winning 84 percent of the Democratic vote in the state, while Trump is only winning 77 percent of Republicans.

The poll, which was commissioned by the S.C. Democratic Party, also recorded nearly equal favorability ratings on the two candidates. Clinton is viewed favorably by 38 percent of those polled and unfavorably by 55 percent. Trump is also viewed favorably by 38 percent and unfavorably by slightly more than Clinton, 56 percent.

"This is the beginning of a long-awaited electoral shift in South Carolina and the nation," said Todd Rutherford, the Democratic minority leader in the S.C. House of Representatives.

"By nominating Donald Trump for President of the United States,” Rutherford said, “the Republican Party has abdicated its role as a serious political party in America and transformed into the world's largest and angriest comment section.”

Five percent of South Carolinians are planning to vote for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, and 2 percent will vote for the Green Party’s Jill Stein.

Trump is leading in South Carolina only because he out-polls Clinton among voters older than 65, winning that group 58 percent to 30 percent. Among voters younger than 65, Clinton leads 41-36.

The poll is the second bit of good news for S.C. Democrats this week.

On Monday, the election-forecasting website FiveThirtyEight predicted that if the election were held then, there was a 50.4 percent chance Clinton could carry the state. (The numbers since have swung back in Trump’s favor, although still down significantly from his post-convention high.)

S.C. Democrats touted other results from the poll, including the findings that:

▪ 84 percent of those surveyed support requiring universal criminal background checks for firearm purchases

▪ 81 percent support barring firearm purchases by people on the terrorist watch list

▪ 77 percent support increasing the minimum wage

▪ 78 percent support allowing refinancing student loans at lower rates

▪ 53 percent support legislation protecting LGBT South Carolinians from discrimination in the workplace, housing, and public accommodations

Those majorities reflect Democratic positions.

"These poll results confirm what has been apparent to me for quite some time: South Carolinians are rejecting the failed policies of the Republican Party and the dangerous divisiveness of their leader, Donald Trump,” S.C. Democratic Party chairman Jaime Harrison said in a statement. “The Clinton campaign is already committed to pursuing a 50-state strategy, and this proves the wisdom of that approach.”

S.C. Republican chairman Matt Moore is taking the results of the Public Policy poll seriously, saying Republicans will have to work to ensure South Carolina stays in the “red” column this fall.

“These numbers are certainly surprising compared to recent history,” Moore said. “South Carolina Republicans must take the presidential race seriously. It’s time to get to work.”

The poll was conducted Aug. 9 and 10, using a sample of 1,290 S.C. voters. It has a 2.7 percent margin of error.

This story was originally published August 11, 2016 at 1:54 PM with the headline "Clinton ‘virtually tied’ with Trump in SC, poll shows."