The Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg just released their latest polls from Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Indiana. Here are the head-to-head numbers:
The poll found Clinton leading Obama 46% to 41% in Pennsylvania -- a far cry from the double-digit margins she held in earlier polls.
In Indiana, where little polling has occurred, previous surveys gave Clinton the edge. The Times/Bloomberg poll put Obama ahead, 40% to 35%.
The leads in Pennsylvania and Indiana are within the poll's margin of sampling error.
In North Carolina, the poll found, Obama leads Clinton 47% to 34% -- a finding in keeping with expectations that he will do well in the state, which has a large African American population. Among blacks there, 71% supported Obama; only 5% backed Clinton and 24% were undecided.
One reason Clinton is struggling in Indiana and North Carolina is that a mainstay of her coalition in earlier contests -- women -- have been defecting. In Indiana, the poll found women split their vote, 35% for each candidate. In North Carolina, they favored Obama, 43% to 36%.
Many interesting nuggets, but this is probably the most interesting:
In Pennsylvania, the flap seems to have marginally helped Obama more than hurt him: 24% said his handling of the issue made them think more highly of him; 15% said it made them think less highly of him; 58% said it made no difference in their views.
Let's see how the painfully pompous pundits dissect that number. Of course, they'll all have to wait for Time Magazine's chief pompous pundit, Mark Halperin, to explain what it means. But, he'll have to wait for the talking points from his high level source at the Clinton campaign to explain it to him.
Remember, Clinton is supposed to win Pennsylvania by 20 points. That's the margin she needs to declare victory.
