Monday, August 8, 2016

The Electoral College Map (8/8/16)




New State Polls (8/8/16)
State
Poll
Date
Margin of Error
Sample
Clinton
Trump
Undecided
Poll Margin
FHQ Margin
Georgia
8/6-8/7
+/- 4.0%
615 likely voters
44
37
10
+7
+0.16
Pennsylvania
7/31-8/4
+/- 3.53%
772 likely voters
46
37
7
+9
+5.70
Utah
7/18-8/4
+/- 3.34%
858 likely voters
25
37
7
+12
+6.15


Polling Quick Hits:
A new work week brings another set of state-level polls of the presidential race. The three new surveys offer a surprise, a new normal (perhaps) and a back to (some semblance) of normal.

Georgia:
Changes (August 8)
StateBeforeAfter
UtahToss Up TrumpLean Trump
The surprise comes from Georgia. One could probably talk FHQ into the idea that maybe, just maybe, Clinton is up by three points in the Peach state (as the recent AJC poll did). That seems a reasonable upper limit for Clinton in Georgia in the days following the national conventions. But a seven point advantage -- like the one from JMC Analytics -- stretches that  range into outlier territory (pending further evidence).

However, even with that poll included, Georgia remains just on the Trump side of the partisan line. The Peach state joins Arizona and Nevada as Trump toss ups on the cusp of pushing over that barrier into Clinton's side of the Electoral College Spectrum. All three states have averages within 0.14 points of each other and within 0.2 points of turning blue. On the weight of the JMC Analytics survey, Georgia now also joins the Watch List.


Pennsylvania:
The Susquehanna poll of the Keystone state provides the "new normal" poll. It absolutely could be that another poll placing the margin in Pennsylvania around +10 -- the lean-strong line -- is part of a post-convention bounce for Secretary Clinton. Although, one could also argue that the recent bevy of polls in that +10 range echoes past, Obama era polling in the commonwealth, and that perhaps Pennsylvania is reverting to form: tantalizing to Republican nominees, but just enough out of reach. In any event, Pennsylvania holds its cell in the Spectrum and inches closer to coming off the Watch List (and becoming a more comfortable Lean Clinton state).


Utah:
The "back to normal" -- but only barely -- survey comes out of Utah. The Beehive state has shown a much closer than normal margin between the two major party nominees all year. But the latest from Dan Jones indicates a margin that is at least moving in the direction of normal, which is to say Republican, direction. Of course, the FHQ weighted average has always favored Trump while being about 40 points off in terms of where past Republican nominees had been relative to their competition. The 12 point Trump advantage in the survey was enough to push the average in Utah above the toss up-lean line and continue to keep it off the Watch List.





The Electoral College Spectrum1
HI-42
(7)
NJ-14
(175)
VA-133
(269 | 282)
AK-3
(158)
LA-8
(55)
MD-10
(17)
DE-3
(178)
NH-43
(273 | 269)
MO-10
(155)
SD-3
(47)
RI-4
(21)
WI-10
(188)
IA-6
(279 | 265)
UT-6
(145)
ND-3
(44)
MA-11
(32)
NM-5
(193)
FL-29
(308 | 259)
IN-11
(139)
ID-4
(41)
VT-3
(35)
MI-16
(209)
NC-15
(323 | 230)
TX-38
(128)
NE-5
(37)
CA-55
(90)
OR-7
(216)
OH-18
(341 | 215)
KS-6
(90)
AL-9
(32)
NY-29
(119)
CT-7
(223)
NV-6
(197)
SC-9
(84)
KY-8
(23)
IL-20
(139)
ME-4
(227)
GA-16
(191)
AR-6
(75)
OK-7
(15)
MN-10
(149)
CO-9
(236)
AZ-11
(175)
MT-3
(69)
WV-5
(8)
WA-12
(161)
PA-20
(256)
MS-6
(164)
TN-11
(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 Virginia (all Clinton's toss up states plus Virginia), he would have 282 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 Virginia 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 Virginia 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
Georgia
from Toss Up Trump
to Toss Up Clinton
Missouri
from Lean Trump
to Toss Up Trump
Nevada
from Toss Up Trump
to Toss Up Clinton
New Jersey
from Strong Clinton
to Lean Clinton
Pennsylvania
from Lean Clinton
to Toss Up Clinton
South Carolina
from Lean Trump
to Strong Trump
Virginia
from Toss Up Clinton
to Lean Clinton
1 Graduated weighted average margin within a fraction of a point of changing categories.





Sunday, August 7, 2016

The Electoral College Map (8/7/16)




New State Polls (8/7/16)
State
Poll
Date
Margin of Error
Sample
Clinton
Trump
Undecided
Poll Margin
FHQ Margin
Arizona
8/2-8/5
+/- 4.8%
1095 likely voters
42
44
5
+2
+0.18
Nevada
8/2-8/5
+/- 4.6%
993 likely voters
43
41
6
+2
+0.04
Virginia
8/2-8/5
+/- 3.7%
1181 likely voters
49
37
5
+12
+4.30


Polling Quick Hits:
There were a trio of battleground state polls released from YouGov/CBS on Sunday. YouGov has been doing a battleground tracker of 11 battleground states in addition to individual state polls so far this year. However, Arizona has not been included in that tracker. Nor has YouGov reported individualized results in any of the three states today before now. This is a long way of saying that there is no direct, in-house comparison for any of the three polls below.

Arizona:
Changes (August 7)
StateBeforeAfter
ArizonaToss Up ClintonToss Up Trump
The Grand Canyon state is back on the Trump side of the partisan line. At this point, Arizona is close enough to tied that any result that runs counter to the current average leader is likely to shift the balance toward the other candidate. That was true earlier in the week when a Clinton-positive poll in Arizona tipped the average in her direction. And it is true today with a Trump +2 bringing the FHQ average in Arizona back to him.


Nevada:
The same dynamic may be closer to being a reality in Nevada as well. The FHQ weighted average has been narrowly favoring Trump in the Silver state, but the it has been approaching zero over time. At Trump +0.04 after the addition of this YouGov survey Nevada, the average may push across the partisan line into Clinton territory with the any additional pro-Clinton poll result.  Both Arizona and Nevada are on the Watch List below, vulnerable to a shift into Clinton's column.


Virginia:
The Old Dominion, too, is moving in the Clinton-Kaine ticket's direction. But Virginia has consistently been leaning blue. The difference now on the after side of the two national conventions is that the polling margins have been increasing, becoming a deeper shade of blue. Here at FHQ, the average is still just below that Lean/Toss Up line, and this poll has increased the margin enough to put Virginia back on the Watch List. There are no other Clinton toss ups that are in any danger of pushing over into the Lean area, but Virginia is moving closer to joining Pennsylvania in making that switch.





The Electoral College Spectrum1
HI-42
(7)
NJ-14
(175)
VA-133
(269 | 282)
UT-6
(158)
LA-8
(55)
MD-10
(17)
DE-3
(178)
NH-43
(273 | 269)
AK-3
(152)
SD-3
(47)
RI-4
(21)
WI-10
(188)
IA-6
(279 | 265)
MO-10
(149)
ND-3
(44)
MA-11
(32)
NM-5
(193)
FL-29
(308 | 259)
IN-11
(139)
ID-4
(41)
VT-3
(35)
MI-16
(209)
NC-15
(323 | 230)
TX-38
(128)
NE-5
(37)
CA-55
(90)
OR-7
(216)
OH-18
(341 | 215)
KS-6
(90)
AL-9
(32)
NY-29
(119)
CT-7
(223)
NV-6
(197)
SC-9
(84)
KY-8
(23)
IL-20
(139)
ME-4
(227)
AZ-11
(191)
AR-6
(75)
OK-7
(15)
MN-10
(149)
CO-9
(236)
GA-16
(180)
MT-3
(69)
WV-5
(8)
WA-12
(161)
PA-20
(256)
MS-6
(164)
TN-11
(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 Virginia (all Clinton's toss up states plus Virginia), he would have 282 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 Virginia 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 Virginia 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
Missouri
from Lean Trump
to Toss Up Trump
Nevada
from Toss Up Trump
to Toss Up Clinton
New Jersey
from Strong Clinton
to Lean Clinton
Pennsylvania
from Lean Clinton
to Toss Up Clinton
South Carolina
from Lean Trump
to Strong Trump
Utah
from Toss Up Trump
to Lean Trump
Virginia
from Toss Up Clinton
to Lean Clinton
1 Graduated weighted average margin within a fraction of a point of changing categories.





Friday, August 5, 2016

The Electoral College Map (8/5/16)




New State Polls (8/5/16)
State
Poll
Date
Margin of Error
Sample
Clinton
Trump
Undecided
Poll Margin
FHQ Margin
Georgia
8/1-8/4
+/- 4.0%
847 registered voters
41
38
7
+3
+1.19
Michigan
7/30-8/4
+/- 4.0%
600 likely voters
43
32
14
+11
+7.67


Polling Quick Hits:
Georgia:
A bad (work) week of polling comes to a close with more suboptimal polling for Donald Trump. Most of the week has featured polls from blue states with seemingly widening gaps favoring the former secretary of state (and a few deep red state surveys indicating strong but lagging Trump leads). But in the latest Atlanta Journal-Constitution survey of the Peach state, there is at least some evidence that Clinton blue is creeping into red but competitive states.

Make no mistake, Georgia has been competitive in the polls all along. Of the ten polls conducted in Georgia in 2016, 70 percent of them have shown a race tipped toward Trump, but by margins of less than five points. That is a toss up by FHQ standards. This latest poll, however, has Clinton out in front and erodes the Trump advantage in the Peach state even further. Still, Georgia maintains its position behind Nevada as the tightest Toss Up Trump state, but one that is not quite within range -- a fraction of a point -- of jumping over the partisan line just yet. As FHQ has noted, Georgia and states like Arizona and/or Nevada are not needs for Clinton at this point given the order of states that has been established. On the path the 270, those states would prove superfluous to her, but very nearly necessary for Trump.


Michigan:
Another day, another poll out of Michigan. And in this case, the second story is the same as the first: Clinton is ahead by a margin hovering around the Strong and Lean categories. On the weight of this poll and yesterday's Glengariff survey, Clinton's average lead at FHQ has grown to nearly 8 points. Sure, the polling overall is moving in Clinton's direction this week following the Democratic convention last week and steady stream of unforced errors by Trump, but Michigan is one of those industrial midwest states that is a cornerstone of the Trump strategy to shake up the electoral map. If Michigan is moving deeper into Clinton territory, then several paths to 270 come off the table with it. Then again, if Georgia is moving toward Clinton, Michigan is going to be a next to impossible task for Trump.

The poll and resulting change to the FHQ weighted average for Michigan pushes the Great Lakes state deeper into the heart of the Lean Clinton category, but still well away from jumping into the Strong area.





The Electoral College Spectrum1
HI-42
(7)
NJ-14
(175)
NH-4
(260)
UT-6
(158)
LA-8
(55)
MD-10
(17)
DE-3
(178)
VA-133
(273 | 278)
AK-3
(152)
SD-3
(47)
RI-4
(21)
WI-10
(188)
IA-6
(279 | 265)
MO-10
(149)
ND-3
(44)
MA-11
(32)
NM-5
(193)
FL-29
(308 | 259)
IN-11
(139)
ID-4
(41)
VT-3
(35)
MI-16
(209)
NC-15
(323 | 230)
TX-38
(128)
NE-5
(37)
CA-55
(90)
OR-7
(216)
OH-18
(341 | 215)
KS-6
(90)
AL-9
(32)
NY-29
(119)
CT-7
(223)
AZ-11
(352 | 197)
SC-9
(84)
KY-8
(23)
IL-20
(139)
ME-4
(227)
NV-6
(186)
AR-6
(75)
OK-7
(15)
MN-10
(149)
CO-9
(236)
GA-16
(180)
MT-3
(69)
WV-5
(8)
WA-12
(161)
PA-20
(256)
MS-6
(164)
TN-11
(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 Virginia (all Clinton's toss up states plus Virginia), he would have 278 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 Virgini
a is the state where Clinton crosses the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the presidential election. That line is referred to as the victory line.



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 Clinton
to Toss Up Trump
Arkansas
from Strong Trump
to Lean Trump
Missouri
from Lean Trump
to Toss Up Trump
Nevada
from Toss Up Trump
to Toss Up Clinton
New Jersey
from Strong Clinton
to Lean Clinton
Pennsylvania
from Lean Clinton
to Toss Up Clinton
South Carolina
from Lean Trump
to Strong Trump
Utah
from Toss Up Trump
to Lean Trump
1 Graduated weighted average margin within a fraction of a point of changing categories.