WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- An influential election projection agency on Thursday shifted the U.S. presidential race in the state of Arizona toward Democratic nominee Joe Biden, as its latest poll found the former vice president led President Donald Trump by 5 percentage points in the state.

A poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and Cook Political Report released Thursday showed Biden led Trump 45-40 percent, larger than the Democrat's lead over the Republican incumbent in other battleground states like Florida and North Carolina, in both of which the edges were within the margins of error.

Another troubling sign for Trump in Arizona, which he won by a narrow 3.5-point advantage over Hillary Clinton in 2016, is that only about 73 percent of Republicans said they will definitely vote for the president in November, with another 9 percent saying they are probably or definitely casting their ballot for Biden, the KFF-Cook poll showed.

Furthermore, support for Trump from Arizona's Latino community was also lagging - 17 percent compared to Biden's 55 percent among the group.

"The new data in this poll, combined with other recent polling in the state, all find Arizona slipping away from Trump," Cook's elections analyst Amy Walter said. "We are moving it from Toss Up to Lean Democrat."

The KFF-Cook poll surveyed 1,298 registered voters in Arizona between Aug. 29 and Sept. 13. It has a margin of sampling error of 3 percentage points.

U.S. media projected an easier path for Biden toward winning the 270 Electoral College votes needed to claim victory in the election if he carries Arizona. Vice President Mike Pence told The Hill earlier this week that Arizona is "of great importance" for the Trump-Pence team, and that they will continue to campaign there.