democratic presidential nominee hillary clinton holds a 4 percentage point lead in north carolina and trails her republican rival donald trump by 1 point in ohio, according to a new wall street journal/nbc news/marist poll. mrs. clinton was ahead, 45% to 41%, among likely voters in north carolina, while mr. trump led 42% to 41% in ohio. interviews for the three-day poll started<u+00a0>monday, the day after the latest presidential debate and three days after an 11-year-old tape surfaced showing mr. trump speaking lewdly about forcing himself on women. the poll also showed the u.s. senate race in north carolina tied at 46% between republican sen. richard burr and his democratic challenger, deborah ross. in ohio, the poll showed incumbent sen. rob portman, a republican, with a comfortable lead, 55% to 37%, over democratic rival ted strickland. a win for mrs. clinton in either state likely would secure her electoral victory. both battlegrounds take on outsize importance for mr. trump after his campaign<u+00a0>on tuesday<u+00a0>all but conceded virginia , and a wall street journal/nbc news/marist poll<u+00a0>on sunday showed him trailing by double digits in pennsylvania. without those states, mr. trump<u+2019>s path to a majority in the electoral college becomes very narrow. mrs. clinton, meanwhile, has several paths to capture the 270 electoral votes needed to win the white house. in each state, the wild card in the race may be libertarian candidate gary johnson. he had support from 9% of likely voters in both ohio and north carolina. the former new mexico governor<u+2019>s strength in the poll primarily came from young voters and those who don<u+2019>t identify as either republican or democrat. mr. johnson had support from 20% of independent voters in north carolina and 18% of independents in ohio, according to the poll. he had support of 25% of voters under 30 years old in ohio. in north carolina, mr. johnson tied with mr. trump at 24% among young voters. mrs. clinton led among young voters in both states but was well behind president barack obama <u+2019>s performance in 2012. exit polls showed mr. obama winning 67% of voters 18 to 29 years old four years ago in north carolina. mrs. clinton had support from just 38% of this age group in the new poll. <u+201c>when you talk about 2016 breaking all the rules, look no further than ohio and north carolina,<u+201d> said lee m. miringoff, director of the marist college institute for public opinion. <u+201c>obama carried the buckeye state twice, but now it could go either way. although the tar heel state cast its 15 electoral votes for mitt romney in 2012, it could be the deal maker for the clinton campaign this time.<u+201d> no republican has ever won the white house without also winning ohio. north carolina was one of just two states that president obama won in 2008 and lost in 2012. when the survey was widened to registered voters, mrs. clinton<u+2019>s lead in north carolina grew to 6 percentage points. among registered voters in ohio, the race was tied at 40%. the poll showed the favorability rating for the two candidates among registered voters was virtually unchanged from the same poll in august. both are disliked by well over half of voters. the results come as mr. trump finds himself on the defensive over questions about his treatment of women. a video from 2005 surfaced<u+00a0>on friday<u+00a0>in which mr. trump talked about how his star power allowed him to touch and kiss women without their consent. during his debate with mrs. clinton<u+00a0>on sunday, he denied ever forcing himself on women. but<u+00a0>on wednesday, multiple media outlets published reports of women speaking on the record about mr. trump touching them without consent. mr. trump has denied all of the accusations . he characterized the reports as a conspiracy between mrs. clinton<u+2019>s team and the media to damage his candidacy during a campaign event<u+00a0>thursday<u+00a0>in ohio. the journal/nbc news/marist surveys included 724 likely voters in ohio and 743 likely voters in north carolina. the margin of error for those groups was plus or minus 3.6 percentage points. the surveys included 1,007 registered voters in ohio and 1,025 in north carolina. the margin of error for those groups was plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. write to michael c. bender at mike.bender@wsj.com
hillary clinton leads by 4 points in north carolina; donald trump has 1-point edge in ohio, poll finds  - wsj
michael c. bender