DeSart model in Ohio: Trump is in the lead
The DeSart model released an updated forecast of the election outcome. It currently predicts a major vote share of 49.1% for Clinton, and 50.9% for Trump in Ohio. In comparison, on August 16, Clinton was predicted to achieve 50.9% of the vote.
In Ohio, the election outcome is often decided by a narrow margin. This is the reason why the state is commonly viewed as a purple state, which makes it particularly interesting from a forecasting perspective.
Putting the results in context
As any other method, models are subject to bias. Thus, as a general rule, you should not have too much confidence in the results of a single econometric model. At the very least, one should check how a model's results compare to benchmark forecasts.
Results compared to the combined PollyVote prediction
The latest PollyVote anticipates Trump to gain 48.9% of the two-party vote in Ohio. The results of the DeSart model for Trump are thus 2.0 percentage points above the combined PollyVote in Ohio.