Swing State Polls: Hillary Clinton Ahead of Donald Trump in Colorado, Iowa and Virginia

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is edging out Republican rival Donald Trump in three swing state polls released on Wednesday, putting her ahead in Colorado, Iowa and Virginia.

Clinton holds the largest lead among Virginia voters, where she polls 12 points ahead of Trump, 50 percent to 38 percent, according to the new Quinnipiac University survey. She also leads the New York businessman 49 percent to 39 percent in Colorado, and 47 percent to 44 percent in Iowa.

Clinton's leads were slightly thinner in all three states when third-party candidates were included.

"The scary thing for Republicans in the Virginia and Colorado numbers is that they show a possible Hillary Clinton landslide in states that only eight years ago leaned GOP and before that had been GOP strongholds," Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said in a statement.

Brown also wrote that Colorado's "burgeoning Hispanic population" could help explain why Trump is having difficulties in the state and that a demographic shift in the Democratic-leaning Washington, D.C., suburbs in Virginia has helped Clinton. Others, however, have suggested that her running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, has helped boost her performance in the state.

“Colorado and Virginia are important swing states. Faced with these deficits in those states, Trump's situation is similar to the poker player who must draw to an inside straight flush," Brown said.

In a separate poll conducted by Public Policy Polling, Trump barely leads Clinton in Missouri — a Republican stronghold — with just 3 percentage points between the two.

In recent national polling, Clinton leads head-to-head match-ups against Trump, with the Democrat holding 47.2 percent support compared to 41.2 percent for the New York businessman, according to averages compiled by RealClear Politics.

The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted Aug. 9-16 by phone among 830 likely voters in Colorado and 846 likely voters in Iowa with a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points and among 808 likely voters in Virginia with a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons