The 2016 White House race: The battles to secure the Republican and Democratic party nominations
Another Clinton vs Bush contest looks less certain
The above polling from the respected Quinnipiac University is of matchups between Democratic and Republican Party contenders in two of the key swing States that will decide next year’s White House Race – Ohio and Florida.
It comes at a critical time as the party establishments, donors and others who can influence the race get closer to deciding which of the contenders will get their support.
Even though the election itself on the first Tuesday in November next year is a long way off the primary battles, particularly in the Republican party, are gaining a lot of public interest as can be judged by the extra large audiences for the TV debates.
Obviously Donald Trump has had a big impact and he himself has boasted that the big TV networks want him to stay in because his presence will build up their audiences. He continues to lead in the polls both national and state ones but the margin is not quite as large as it was.
Trump has indicated that if his polling position deteriorates and he is no longer leading then he might leave the race
In the Democratic party contest Hillary Clinton is the presumed nominee but that entails an enormous amount of risk and everybody is watching to see whether the current Vice President, Joe Biden, decides to put his hat into the ring. The view is that he could damage Hilary quite a lot particularly in States with heavy concentrations of black Americans.
I’m not convinced about Joe Biden simply because of his age. If he got the nomination and won he would be in his late seventies towards the end of his presidential term. A number of commentators have observed that he is not ruling himself out just in case the Hillary campaign stumbles.