Hillary Clinton’s lead shows significant gains in the state for her since the last New York Times/Siena College poll. | AP Photo Poll: Clinton has 7-point lead over Trump in North Carolina

Hillary Clinton has cultivated a 7 percentage point lead in North Carolina, an essential state for Donald Trump if he is to win the White House, according to a New York Times poll released Tuesday morning.

The former secretary of state leads the Manhattan billionaire 46 percent to 39 percent in the survey conducted by the New York Times’ Upshot section and Siena College. Libertarian Gary Johnson polled at 8 percent in the state’s three-way presidential race. Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, is not on the ballot in the state.

Clinton’s 7 point lead shows significant gains in the state for her since the last New York Times/Siena College poll there, which was conducted in mid-September and showed her tied with Trump at 41 percent. Since then, the former secretary of state’s relatively successful debate performances have given her a boost while allegations of sexual assault against Trump and the 2005 video of him making vulgar comments about women have dragged down the GOP ticket.

A victory in North Carolina, a state that 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney won, would all but seal off any path for Trump to the White House. The real estate mogul must win a variety of swing states in order to have even a shot at the presidency, and North Carolina’s 15 electoral votes are essential to his chances.

As has been the case elsewhere in the country, there is a marked divide among white voters in North Carolina along educational lines. White voters with a college degree, a group that voted for Romney by 20 points in 2012, favor Clinton 42 percent to 40 percent according to the poll. White voters without a college degree back Trump 66 percent to 22 percent, although Clinton’s support within that group is up 5 points relative to September’s poll.

The former secretary of state’s already sizeable lead with nonwhite voters also grew since last month, jumping nine points. She leads Trump 81 percent to 6 percent among that group of North Carolinians.

The New York Times Upshot/Siena College poll was conducted from Oct. 20-23, reaching 792 likely voters in North Carolina via landlines and cell phones. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.5 percent.

