North Carolina Poll: Trump Leads By Seven

Donald Trump has pulled far ahead of Hillary Clinton in North Carolina, a new survey found.

With just one week left until voters select the next president on November 8, a WRAL News poll, released on November 1, found that likely voters – including those who had already cast their ballots during early voting – favored Trump by seven points, with 51 percent to Clinton’s 44 percent. Trump’s commanding lead has flipped the results that the same poll found three weeks ago, in which Clinton led by two percent, with 46 points to Trump’s 44. Trump’s most recent commanding lead well outside of its nearly four-point margin of error.

A large number of voters reported that they lacked enthusiasm for either candidate – indeed, two in five said that they would cast their ballots or had already done so in pure opposition to the other nominee rather than in support for the candidate of their choice. A full 38 percent of Trump voters and 32 percent of Clinton voters said that they were voting “with reservations” about their candidate.

The survey was conducted shortly after news broke that the FBI uncovered additional deleted emails from Hillary Clinton’s private server and would soon investigate them. When asked what the most important consideration in voting for president, one third of voters agreed that they wanted a trustworthy candidate, while a 40 percent plurality ranked positions on the issues with the highest importance. Experience (17 percent) and character (eight percent) trailed behind as the third and fourth most important traits.

Those who selected trustworthiness as the most important quality overwhelmingly favored Trump, with 83 percent of those individuals selecting him. Those most concerned about the issues also preferred the GOP candidate by 52 percent to 26 percent, though 93 percent of those who rated experience the most highly preferred Clinton, as did 58 percent of those concerned about character.

Among all credible North Carolina polls, Clinton leads by less than one point in the state, according to averages compiled by Real Clear Politics.

Sources: WRAL, Real Clear Politics / Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr