there are books for sale there. derek will sign any book that you buy. if you do enjoy, it's an excellent read, and we're really getting you up to speed on where we are in this country with respect to our foreign policy. thanks again. >> thanks. donald trump slightly ahead, and yet a new washington post 50 state survey indicates that donald trump is facing some critical weaknesses in trying to get to 270 electoral votes. scott clement is polling manager for the washington post. he is joining us on the phone. thanks very much for being with us. >> good to be here. >> first of all, explain this 50 state survey, what you were looking for, and what you found.

>> there were a handful of state surveys done by all types of firms. during on-line polling company survey monkey, to conduct a really massive survey. the largest we've ever done. over 74,000 registered voters across the country, which gave us the ability to look at the vote in every state, but also how subgroups are voting in different states. we can look at men and women, whites and non-whites and other groups and help to piece out the way the dynamics of the election are playing across the country. we found a number of surprises. one of the big themes that this year has been how there's been a deep division among whites by education. with college educated whites. particularly being repelled by trump, but college agrees being more supportive. we definitely see that throughout the data, but it's particularly notable in places like the upper midwest, and they're helping to buoy trump support.

>> based on your findings with nine weeks to go before election day, these are areas that donald trump needs to win if he has any hope of getting to 270, but at the moment is struggling. >> we've had close races. it goes with the theme seen throughout the survey where trump is underperforming in a number of solid republican strongholds. most notably, utah, which is certainly on no battleground map. he leads by only 11 points there. in airy we found. in texas we also found clinton plus one. those are contest that is are probably still uphill battles for clinton. they're not friendly states to democrats, and they might still tilt back to trump. it signals that there's -- the overall enthusiasm issue for trump among republicans is struggle to unite the party behind his candidacy, and it's

starting to show in some of the solid republican states. >> scott collegent, let's talk about florida. this is a state that both democrats and republicans put a lot of time and effort into. right now hillary clinton is ahead, but only slightly. a state that donald trump says he can win. >> he has to win. he leads by four points or more in 20 states. they only amount to 126 electoral votes. florida is one of those toss-ups. clinton is up by only two. it's a big state florida is a state where you see deep demographic divisions, as well as even within whites between those with college agrdegrees a those without. >> one thing that definitely provides further questions going

forward is how turn-out will fair among these groups. the survey was conducted among registered voters. we'll be focussing more on likely voters in the coming weeks and trying to figure out which groups are likely to turn out at higher rates. it's not a simple calculus this year i think because both clinton and trump are relying on some relatively low turnout groups as really their base. >> has donald trump consolidated the republican vote? >> he really hasn't. >> across all the states where we conducted surveys. >> we were seeing a similar dynamic to what we've seen in national polls across the country where he is struggle to unite the base. still the vast majority of republicans are supportive of him, but the challenge is

getting to that 90% standard that has really become consistent in recent presidential elections. two high profile third party candidates. jill stein and gary johnson. either candidate breaking through? >> in some states they definitely are. gary johnson is running a fascinating campaign that's fairing well in one of the states where he served as governor in new mexico. he gets 23% support in that state, and he is only a few points off of where donald trump is in that state. overall he gets at least 15% support in 15 states. i mention that percentage because that's the threshold that the commissioner on presidential debates has put on whether he can participate in debates. they're focused on national

surveys, but he clearly is getting significant support across a number of these states. he does less well in the deep south than he does in the upper mountain states. i should mention jill stein. jill stein also, she does a bit worse than johnson in the single digits in nearly every state. the one where she does very well is vermont. she has 10% support there, and that, of course, is the home to senator bernie sanders. could cause nervousness for hillary clinton. vermont, she's still a favorite to win that state. >> finally, a potential bright spot for donald trump and his campaign. the upper midwest. >> this is what trump supporters have hoped for. the sign he can run the table in the upper midwest, or at least pick off some democratic heavy

states. in pennsylvania clinton leads by four points, but that's slimmer than what we have seen in other public surveys. in michigan clinton leads by only two. in wisconsin by two. in ohio trump leads by three. the bulk of the states have gone democratic in the last six electrics. that signals how important these have been in boosting democrats. it's a fairly narrow victory there. the real way for trump to pull off 270 electoral votes seems to be through those states. it is a long road to the white house, and they're polling all 50 states to figure out what each candidate needs to do to get there. the research and reporting of scott clement, along with dan

balls of the washington post available on-line and in today's newspap newspaper. thank you very much for being with us. tloo thank you. >> c-span's washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up wednesday morning veterans affairs secretary robert mcdonald on current issues facing veterans, including v.a. reforms, the commission on care report, and access to health care on veterans. tennessee republican congressman phil rowe will talk about wednesday's veterans committee hearing on the care the v.a. provides, criticism of secretary mcdonald, and the possible subpoena by the v.a. commission regarding documents of art purchases by the v.a. nationwide since 2010.

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