Latest news out of Pennsylvania:
On the eve of the first presidential debate, a new Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll shows a narrow gap between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump amid rising support for Trump within his own party.
Clinton still leads Trump in a head-to-head matchup, but only by a 3-point margin, 44 percent to 41 percent. Those results showed Clinton's support dropping and Trump's gaining compared with a Morning Call/Muhlenberg poll a week earlier, which showed Clinton at 47 percent and Trump at 38 percent.
In a four-way matchup, Clinton leads by 2 points, at 40 percent to Trump's 38 percent. Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson dropped to 8 percent — down from 14 percent a week ago — and Green Party nominee Jill Stein went from 5 to 3 percent.
Pennsylvania's competitive U.S. Senate race also shifted in the GOP's favor, with Republican Sen. Pat Toomey on top by 1 point, 41 percent to 40 percent for Democratic challenger Katie McGinty.
Both races are within the survey's margin of error, plus or minus 5 percentage points.
The latest survey, of 486 likely general election voters, was conducted Sept. 19-23, amid reports of bombs exploding in New York and New Jersey, as well as civil unrest in North Carolina after a black man was shot and killed by a police officer. Trump discussed those events during his appearances last week.
Chris Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, which conducted the state poll, said the week's events likely contributed to the shifts in support among Republicans and among those in an age bracket that includes parents, who may be swayed by debate over public safety.
Weekly polls are tough to really take in because voters minds can change quickly in a week. But this race is absolutely ours to win and the ad wars are heating up. McGinty and Democrats are hitting Toomey’s support for shipping jobs overseas and his constant bidding for Wall Street to gut and dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau:
Lets help keep these ads running and exposing his record. Click here to donate and get involved with McGinty’s campaign.