Democrat Hillary Clinton has pulled ahead of Republican rival Donald Trump in the traditional battleground state of Florida, strengthening her position in the race for the White House, the Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation project showed ahead of the pair's first presidential debate on Monday night.

If the election were held on Monday, Clinton would lead Trump in the Electoral College by 259 to 191, with an 88 percent chance of reaching the 270 needed to win, according to the project's results.

The project, based on a weekly online tracking poll of more than 15,000 Americans, estimates state-by-state results that will drive the voting in the Electoral College, the body that ultimately selects the president.

The results marked the first upward swing in the project for Clinton in several weeks. The last release of the poll, on Sept. 16, gave her a 61 percent chance of winning by a margin of about 14 Electoral College votes. The big difference now is that Florida, with its 29 Electoral College votes, favors Clinton 49 percentage points to Trump's 45 points, the results showed