Trump and Clinton tied in swing state of North Carolina: Poll

Presumptive US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton are tied in North Carolina, while Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson is hurting Trump in the swing state, a new poll shows.

Both Clinton and Trump have 43 percent support among registered voters in North Carolina, which offers 15 electoral votes, and 7 percent of voters are still undecided, shows the Public Policy Polling survey, released on Thursday.

Johnson has support of 4 voters while 2 percent say they will back Jill Stein of the Green Party.

Trump leads Clinton 48 percent to 46 percent in a head-to-head competition, which shows that he is likely losing support to third-party the Libertarian presidential.

"Johnson, even with only 4 percent support, is very clearly hurting Trump in North Carolina," wrote President of Public Policy Polling Dean Debnam.

Trump led Clinton by 2 points, 43 percent to 41 percent in a poll released at the end of May. But a poll conducted in March showed Clinton leading by a few points and an April poll had the both candidates tied.

Trump, however, is leading Clinton 45 to 42 percent in a RealClearPolitics average of polls.

In 2008 and 2012 also, North Carolina was very competitive during the presidential elections. Republican Party presidential nominee Mitt Romney barely won North Carolina in 2012, while President Barack Obama clinched a narrow victory in 2008.

"North Carolina's really entered the top echelon of swing states," Debnam wrote. "The race is dead even here and you can see how seriously the campaigns are taking it by virtue of Clinton and Trump both having come here in the last week."

Meanwhile, campaign finance reports released on Monday night show Trump’s campaign of fundraising has fallen far short of Clinton’s, marking one of the biggest financial mismatches in the country’s history of presidential elections.

Filings released by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) showed that Clinton had $42.5 million in cash at the beginning of June, 32 times larger than Trump’s $1.3 million cash reserve.

Trump’s victory in the primary contests on May 4 did not do him any favor either and he earned only $3 million that month, compared to Clinton’s $26 million.

In the 2012 presidential election, the RNC began in June with about $60 million cash on hand; while in May 2012 it raised more than $76 million together with the then presumptive nominee, Mitt Romney.

This goes against Trump’s claim that money is “pouring in” to the party.

The weak fundraising performance is likely to cause more panic among Republicans about Trump’s chances to win the November election as the billionaire businessman is also behind in terms of support among voters.

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