Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump Latest Polls In North Carolina: Swing State Up For Grabs As Gary Johnson Still A Factor

Donald Trump's latest scandal may have convinced some of the Republican establishment that he can't win the general election, but he's giving Hillary Clinton a run for her money in the key swing state of North Carolina, according to a new poll released Monday. The Democratic nominee, who visited the state last week in an effort to ramp up her support there, was barely edging the billionaire upstart candidate by less than 3 percentage points, a High Point University poll found.

The poll was released just days after the Washington Post published an explosive blockbuster report with audio and video footage of Trump objectifying women with lewd remarks.

Perhaps the reason why Clinton's lead hadn't expanded significantly in the state? Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson, who was claiming 8 percent of the support among likely North Carolina voters. Nine percent of likely voters were also undecided, which may have factored into Clinton's slim lead in the state.

Conversely, the former secretary of state's national lead over Trump widened significantly one day after the two major party nominees squared off for the second time on the debate stage, with the salacious reports increasing the anticipation for the faceoff.

North Carolina is as decisive of a state in the election as there is, the Associated Press reported. "Both candidates have problems here," Paul Shumaker, an adviser to U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., told the AP. "But I think the Clinton people are more attuned about fixing their problems than Trump's are."

Clinton boasted a 14 percentage point national lead Monday, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. She was up 52 percent to 38 percent, doubling her lead from one month earlier.

In North Carolina, which has 15 electoral votes up for grabs, 97 percent of those who were surveyed indicated they were "almost certain" to cast their votes in the same manner they responded to the High Point University poll. Three percent characterized their intent as "probably."

The poll surveyed 479 people last week and has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

The leaked video of Trump making obscene comments about women factored heavily into Monday's national poll, as 52 percent of those surveyed said the news was a legitimate issue in the race for the White House. Fourteen percent said Congress should call on Trump to drop out of the race altogether.

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll surveyed 500 registered voters last week and has a margin of error from 4.4 percentage points and 4.6 percentage points.

Clinton is expected to win the state handily, according to a projection by Five Thirty Eight, which shows the Democrat has a 67 percent chance of doing so.