Monday, August 29, 2016

The Electoral College Map (8/29/16)




New State Polls (8/29/16)
State
Poll
Date
Margin of Error
Sample
Clinton
Trump
Undecided
Poll Margin
FHQ Margin
Arizona
8/25-8/27
+/- 3.63%
728 likely voters
40
39
13
+1
+0.94
Michigan
8/25-8/28
+/- 3.4%
800 likely voters
44.9
39.5
6.7
+5.4
+7.52
Ohio
8/25-8/27
+/- 3.4%
800 likely voters
42.5
43.4
2.2
+0.90
+2.20
Pennsylvania
8/25-8/28
+/- 3.4%
800 likely voters
45.9
42.7
2.9
+3.2
+5.95


Polling Quick Hits:
Monday's batch of polling brought on some level some interesting results, but from pollsters with spottier histories. Yes, there were new battleground surveys out of the Rust Belt (Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania), but it came from three landline-only samples from Emerson. In addition, there was a new poll released in Arizona from the pollster who has had one of the heavier Clinton leans of any firm in the Grand Canyon state thus far.

The silver lining -- if one wants to look at it that way -- is that less representative though these pollsters may be, it did not disrupt the picture in the electoral college that has emerged here at FHQ.


Arizona:
Looking overall at the 2016 polling in Arizona, OH Predictive Insights has now provided Clinton with three of the four leads she has had there. This latest survey is no different, though it shows a tighter race than the past polls from the firm have. The rest of the polling is close and in Trump's direction. The impact OH Predictive has had has been pretty minimal. Without them, Trump's advantage goes from just under a point to around two points. That series of polls has help Clinton, then, but not by much. Arizona is a toss up that favors Trump either with them or not.


Michigan:
In the Great Lakes state, Emerson finds a closer race than most pollsters have recently. That is more a function of Trump's position in the survey: in this case around the ceiling for Trump in Michigan in 2016. Clinton is right in the range she has been in through the first eight months of the year. The question is whether this is a trend -- Trump gaining but not taking from Clinton -- or a matter of the methodological dependence on a landline-only sample.


Ohio:
Emerson's snapshot of Ohio is also well within the established range for not only the candidates' shares of support but for the margin as well. Trump has a few more respondents in favor of him in the poll than Clinton, but the two are basically tied in the Buckeye state in this poll. It bears repeating that this is in the range of results lately witnessed in Ohio, but it breaks a string of post-convention leads for Clinton in the polls there. Like Michigan, this could be a narrowing in the polls like the contraction in the national polls.

...or, well, see the question in the Michigan section above.


Pennsylvania:
It is in Pennsylvania where the largest potential trend change can be found. The Emerson survey there bids farewell to the double digit or near double digit leads that have characterized polling in the Keystone state since convention season concluded. This one most resembles the PPP survey that was taken in the immediate aftermath of the Democratic convention. As with Michigan, the change has nothing to do with Clinton. She continues to hover in the mid- to upper 40s. Emerson finds Trump in the low 40s rather than in the mid- to upper 30s where the New York businessman has been in the majority of polls since the conventions.

Across the board, then, the Emerson polls are the story of a Trump rebound if there was an apples to apples, Emerson poll to Emerson poll comparison. There is not. But it looks like in comparison to other pollsters' recent efforts in these midwestern states. We'll need more data to know whether these are trends or outliers.


--
Compared to the last update there were no changes to the map, but Michigan flips spots with Oregon on the Spectrum and Arizona and Pennsylvania both drift within a point of switching categories to enter the Watch List. Arizona moves closer to the partisan line separating Clinton's and Trump's states and Pennsylvania tightens enough to by within a point of the Clinton Lean/Toss up line.




The Electoral College Spectrum1
HI-42
(7)
NJ-14
(175)
PA-203
(269 | 289)
MO-10
(155)
TN-11
(58)
MD-10
(17)
DE-3
(178)
NH-43
(273 | 269)
AK-3
(145)
LA-8
(47)
RI-4
(21)
WI-10
(188)
FL-29
(302 | 265)
KS-6
(142)
SD-3
(39)
MA-11
(32)
ME-4
(192)
OH-18
(320 | 236)
UT-6
(136)
ND-3
(36)
VT-3
(35)
NM-5
(197)
NC-15
(335 | 218)
TX-38
(130)
ID-4
(33)
CA-55
(90)
OR-7
(204)
IA-6
(341 | 203)
IN-11
(92)
NE-5
(29)
NY-29
(119)
MI-16
(220)
NV-6
(347 | 197)
MS-6
(81)
AL-9
(24)
IL-20
(139)
CT-7
(227)
GA-16
(191)
AR-6
(75)
OK-7
(15)
WA-12
(151)
CO-9
(236)
AZ-11
(175)
MT-3
(69)
WV-5
(8)
MN-10
(161)
VA-13
(249)
SC-9
(164)
KY-8
(66)
WY-3
(3)
1 Follow the link for a detailed explanation on how to read the Electoral College Spectrum.

2 The numbers in the parentheses refer to the number of electoral votes a candidate would have if he or she won all the states ranked prior to that state. If, for example, Trump won all the states up to and including Pennsylvania (all Clinton's toss up states plus Pennsylvania), he would have 289 electoral votes. Trump's numbers are only totaled through the states he would need in order to get to 270. In those cases, Clinton's number is on the left and Trumps's is on the right in bold italics.


To keep the figure to 50 cells, Washington, DC and its three electoral votes are included in the beginning total on the Democratic side of the spectrum. The District has historically been the most Democratic state in the Electoral College.

3 New Hampshire and Pennsylvania are collectively the states where Clinton crosses the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the presidential election. That line is referred to as the victory line. If those two states are separated with Clinton winning Pennsylvania and Trump, New Hampshire, then there would be a tie in the Electoral College.



NOTE: Distinctions are made between states based on how much they favor one candidate or another. States with a margin greater than 10 percent between Clinton and Trump are "Strong" states. Those with a margin of 5 to 10 percent "Lean" toward one of the two (presumptive) nominees. Finally, states with a spread in the graduated weighted averages of both the candidates' shares of polling support less than 5 percent are "Toss Up" states. The darker a state is shaded in any of the figures here, the more strongly it is aligned with one of the candidates. Not all states along or near the boundaries between categories are close to pushing over into a neighboring group. Those most likely to switch -- those within a percentage point of the various lines of demarcation -- are included on the Watch List below.


The Watch List1
State
Switch
Alaska
from Lean Trump
to Toss Up Trump
Arizona
from Toss Up Trump
to Toss Up Clinton
Arkansas
from Strong Trump
to Lean Trump
Delaware
from Strong Clinton
to Lean Clinton
Georgia
from Toss Up Trump
to Toss Up Clinton
Indiana
from Lean Trump
to Strong Trump
Mississippi
from Strong Trump
to Lean Trump
Nevada
from Toss Up Clinton
to Toss Up Trump
New Hampshire
from Lean Clinton
to Toss Up Clinton
New Jersey
from Strong Clinton
to Lean Clinton
Pennsylvania
from Lean Clinton
to Toss Up Clinton
Wisconsin
from Lean Clinton
to Strong Clinton
1 Graduated weighted average margin within a fraction of a point of changing categories.



Friday, August 26, 2016

The Electoral College Map (8/26/16)




New State Polls (8/26/16)
State
Poll
Date
Margin of Error
Sample
Clinton
Trump
Undecided
Poll Margin
FHQ Margin
Florida
8/18-8/24
+/- 4.0%
600 registered voters
42
37
8
+5
--
Florida
8/22-8/24
+/- 4.0%
625 likely voters
44
42
6
+2
+3.18


Polling Quick Hits:
There were just a couple of polls that trickled in from Florida to end the work week.


Florida:
Like North Carolina a day ago, the story of the presidential race in Florida amounts to this with respect to the polling of the state: Show me a survey that finds anything other than a Clinton lead in the one to five point range and FHQ will call it an outlier. But give us more than one poll pointing in the same direction -- consistently more or less competitive than the above range -- and the race may be headed in another direction. Right now it is not. Florida operated in the tied to one point advantage range in the FHQ averages throughout the 2012 general election campaign. The 2016 polling in the Sunshine state is perhaps a bit more volatile, but the data are mostly clustered in the above range.


--
There were no changes to the map, Spectrum or List as compared to the last update.




The Electoral College Spectrum1
HI-42
(7)
NJ-14
(175)
PA-203
(269 | 289)
MO-10
(155)
TN-11
(58)
MD-10
(17)
DE-3
(178)
NH-43
(273 | 269)
AK-3
(145)
LA-8
(47)
RI-4
(21)
WI-10
(188)
FL-29
(302 | 265)
KS-6
(142)
SD-3
(39)
MA-11
(32)
ME-4
(192)
OH-18
(320 | 236)
UT-6
(136)
ND-3
(36)
VT-3
(35)
NM-5
(197)
NC-15
(335 | 218)
TX-38
(130)
ID-4
(33)
CA-55
(90)
MI-16
(213)
IA-6
(341 | 203)
IN-11
(92)
NE-5
(29)
NY-29
(119)
OR-7
(220)
NV-6
(347 | 197)
MS-6
(81)
AL-9
(24)
IL-20
(139)
CT-7
(227)
GA-16
(191)
AR-6
(75)
OK-7
(15)
WA-12
(151)
CO-9
(236)
AZ-11
(175)
MT-3
(69)
WV-5
(8)
MN-10
(161)
VA-13
(249)
SC-9
(164)
KY-8
(66)
WY-3
(3)
1 Follow the link for a detailed explanation on how to read the Electoral College Spectrum.

2 The numbers in the parentheses refer to the number of electoral votes a candidate would have if he or she won all the states ranked prior to that state. If, for example, Trump won all the states up to and including Pennsylvania (all Clinton's toss up states plus Pennsylvania), he would have 289 electoral votes. Trump's numbers are only totaled through the states he would need in order to get to 270. In those cases, Clinton's number is on the left and Trumps's is on the right in bold italics.


To keep the figure to 50 cells, Washington, DC and its three electoral votes are included in the beginning total on the Democratic side of the spectrum. The District has historically been the most Democratic state in the Electoral College.

3 New Hampshire and Pennsylvania are collectively the states where Clinton crosses the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the presidential election. That line is referred to as the victory line. If those two states are separated with Clinton winning Pennsylvania and Trump, New Hampshire, then there would be a tie in the Electoral College.



NOTE: Distinctions are made between states based on how much they favor one candidate or another. States with a margin greater than 10 percent between Clinton and Trump are "Strong" states. Those with a margin of 5 to 10 percent "Lean" toward one of the two (presumptive) nominees. Finally, states with a spread in the graduated weighted averages of both the candidates' shares of polling support less than 5 percent are "Toss Up" states. The darker a state is shaded in any of the figures here, the more strongly it is aligned with one of the candidates. Not all states along or near the boundaries between categories are close to pushing over into a neighboring group. Those most likely to switch -- those within a percentage point of the various lines of demarcation -- are included on the Watch List below.


The Watch List1
State
Switch
Alaska
from Lean Trump
to Toss Up Trump
Arkansas
from Strong Trump
to Lean Trump
Delaware
from Strong Clinton
to Lean Clinton
Georgia
from Toss Up Trump
to Toss Up Clinton
Indiana
from Lean Trump
to Strong Trump
Mississippi
from Strong Trump
to Lean Trump
Nevada
from Toss Up Clinton
to Toss Up Trump
New Hampshire
from Lean Clinton
to Toss Up Clinton
New Jersey
from Strong Clinton
to Lean Clinton
Wisconsin
from Lean Clinton
to Strong Clinton
1 Graduated weighted average margin within a fraction of a point of changing categories.



Thursday, August 25, 2016

The Electoral College Map (8/25/16)




New State Polls (8/25/16)
State
Poll
Date
Margin of Error
Sample
Clinton
Trump
Undecided
Poll Margin
FHQ Margin
Arizona
8/18-8/23
+/- 3.5%
809 likely voters
38
45
0
+7
+1.26
Michigan
8/22-8/24
+/- 4.4%
500 likely voters
43.6
37.2
10.8
+6.4
+7.75
North Carolina
8/18-8/23
+/- 3.5%
803 likely voters
45
45
0
+/-0
+2.04


Polling Quick Hits:
Calm before the storm? Thursday was light in the survey release department. Not counting the late, previous day polls out of Arizona and North Carolina from CNN, the only poll added to the mix was the Suffolk release from Michigan.


Arizona:
There are two truths to the polling of Arizona in 2016. First, there has not been nearly enough it. And second, with only three exceptions -- two from one firm (OH Predictive Insights) and another from a Democratic-leaning outlet (GQR) -- Trump has narrowly led in nearly all of them. The CNN poll of the Grand Canyon state incrementally addresses the first point and is in the direction of the second point. It only breaks with the established margin. But focusing less on that Trump +7 -- +5 in the head-to-head -- the key may be that this poll has Trump on the upper end of the 42-45 percent range he has been in in Arizona all year. And Clinton is on the lower end of her 38-42 percent range. In other words, this is well within the range of results one would expect. But given that the polling has been trending against Trump of late, that +7 will tend to catch the eye.

Arizona remains a Trump toss up, but comes off the Watch List below and trades spots with Georgia on the Electoral College Spectrum.


Michigan:
If there is one thing that can be gleaned from the post convention polling in Michigan it is that Hillary Clinton has something very close -- tightly clustered -- around 43 percent support. One can even take it out one decimal point to highlight the point. Both the new Suffolk survey and the one from Mitchell Research last week had Clinton at 43.6 percent. Now, that synchronicity is just coincidence, but the bigger point should not be lost: any variation in the margin is about Trump fluctuations in support rather than Clinton. And on that front, Trump can be seen rebounding somewhat from his dip into the low 30s in the Great Lakes state following the conventions. But that rebound, if one wants to call the changes across just four post-convention polls a rebound, brings the race in Michigan right back in line with where FHQ has it: somewhere between seven and eight points.


North Carolina:
North Carolina has had a few recent polls, so there really is not much to add. The key question in the Tar Heel state at the moment is whether we will see a break from the established pattern: a small but persistent lead for Clinton. In some respects, that facet is reminiscent of North Carolina from four years ago, but just on the other side of the partisan line. However, the margin from Romney was always a little greater. The better comparison -- a persistent by but narrow lead that never seemed to go away -- might be Florida in 2012. At least through the lens of FHQ's methodology, Florida never jumped the partisan line and turned pink. But that margin did dip very close to zero in the waning days of the campaign. Still, that comparison remains how FHQ sees North Carolina until the data breaks from the Clinton by a narrow margin pattern.


--
There were no changes to the map as compared to the last update. Only the Arizona moves -- coming off the Watch List and switch with Georgia on the Spectrum -- were different.




The Electoral College Spectrum1
HI-42
(7)
NJ-14
(175)
PA-203
(269 | 289)
MO-10
(155)
TN-11
(58)
MD-10
(17)
DE-3
(178)
NH-43
(273 | 269)
AK-3
(145)
LA-8
(47)
RI-4
(21)
WI-10
(188)
FL-29
(302 | 265)
KS-6
(142)
SD-3
(39)
MA-11
(32)
ME-4
(192)
OH-18
(320 | 236)
UT-6
(136)
ND-3
(36)
VT-3
(35)
NM-5
(197)
NC-15
(335 | 218)
TX-38
(130)
ID-4
(33)
CA-55
(90)
MI-16
(213)
IA-6
(341 | 203)
IN-11
(92)
NE-5
(29)
NY-29
(119)
OR-7
(220)
NV-6
(347 | 197)
MS-6
(81)
AL-9
(24)
IL-20
(139)
CT-7
(227)
GA-16
(191)
AR-6
(75)
OK-7
(15)
WA-12
(151)
CO-9
(236)
AZ-11
(175)
MT-3
(69)
WV-5
(8)
MN-10
(161)
VA-13
(249)
SC-9
(164)
KY-8
(66)
WY-3
(3)
1 Follow the link for a detailed explanation on how to read the Electoral College Spectrum.

2 The numbers in the parentheses refer to the number of electoral votes a candidate would have if he or she won all the states ranked prior to that state. If, for example, Trump won all the states up to and including Pennsylvania (all Clinton's toss up states plus Pennsylvania), he would have 289 electoral votes. Trump's numbers are only totaled through the states he would need in order to get to 270. In those cases, Clinton's number is on the left and Trumps's is on the right in bold italics.


To keep the figure to 50 cells, Washington, DC and its three electoral votes are included in the beginning total on the Democratic side of the spectrum. The District has historically been the most Democratic state in the Electoral College.

3 New Hampshire and Pennsylvania are collectively the states where Clinton crosses the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the presidential election. That line is referred to as the victory line. If those two states are separated with Clinton winning Pennsylvania and Trump, New Hampshire, then there would be a tie in the Electoral College.



NOTE: Distinctions are made between states based on how much they favor one candidate or another. States with a margin greater than 10 percent between Clinton and Trump are "Strong" states. Those with a margin of 5 to 10 percent "Lean" toward one of the two (presumptive) nominees. Finally, states with a spread in the graduated weighted averages of both the candidates' shares of polling support less than 5 percent are "Toss Up" states. The darker a state is shaded in any of the figures here, the more strongly it is aligned with one of the candidates. Not all states along or near the boundaries between categories are close to pushing over into a neighboring group. Those most likely to switch -- those within a percentage point of the various lines of demarcation -- are included on the Watch List below.


The Watch List1
State
Switch
Alaska
from Lean Trump
to Toss Up Trump
Arkansas
from Strong Trump
to Lean Trump
Delaware
from Strong Clinton
to Lean Clinton
Georgia
from Toss Up Trump
to Toss Up Clinton
Indiana
from Lean Trump
to Strong Trump
Mississippi
from Strong Trump
to Lean Trump
Nevada
from Toss Up Clinton
to Toss Up Trump
New Hampshire
from Lean Clinton
to Toss Up Clinton
New Jersey
from Strong Clinton
to Lean Clinton
Wisconsin
from Lean Clinton
to Strong Clinton
1 Graduated weighted average margin within a fraction of a point of changing categories.