At least one poll shows that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has evened odds against his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. The most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, released Friday, shows a fairly even split between the two candidates.
Trump Vs. Clinton
Of the respondents to the poll, about 40 percent said they would support Trump, while 39 percent backed Clinton. Ten percent of respondents indicated they would back a third-party candidate. Clinton previously held a substantial lead in the same poll that dropped steadily throughout August.
Donald Trump wasted no time in rubbing this in:
#AmericaFirst #ImWithYou pic.twitter.com/Gtl7DyQkzt
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 2, 2016
How does this stack up to other election polls? Currently, the New York Times polling average shows Clinton ahead of Trump with 43 percent to his 40 percent. Indeed, most of the polls factored into the average still show Clinton ahead of Trump.
What could account for the difference in the Reuters poll? Reuters themselves explains that:
“Different polls have produced widely different results over the course of the campaign. In part that’s because some, like Reuters/Ipsos, have attempted to measure the preferences of who’s likely to vote, while others have surveyed the larger pool of all registered voters. And even those that survey likely voters have different ways of estimating who is likely to cast a ballot.”
“Polling aggregators, which calculate averages of major polls, have shown that Clinton’s lead has been shrinking for the past few weeks. Those averages put her advantage over Trump at between three and six percentage points. Some of the more recent individual polls, however, have the race even tighter.”
Why The Change?
Regardless of who’s right about the precise numbers, it does seem clear that Clinton’s lead is not what it was. In the eyes of many, her numbers have slipped due to two factors.
First, criticism has been heating up in the past few weeks about the many supposed scandals on her plate. Detractors are hammering her over the FBI investigation, the Clinton Foundation, and rumors regarding her health.
Also, there is a perception that she hasn’t been campaigning actively enough.
Several have accused her of sheltering herself from the media to avoid potential missteps. Meanwhile, her rival, Donald Trump, is in front of the cameras making his presence well known.
In spite of numerous blunders, he is, at the very least, keeping himself at the forefront of the voting public’s consciousness. Whether those efforts will help Trump extend his reach beyond his base or galvanize large swaths of voters against him, though, remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Clinton’s VP pick, Tim Kaine, took to ABCs Good Morning America to defend his running mate against charges of being “untrustworthy.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4wiFeQEHS8&ab_channel=USPoliticalNews
Featured Image By La Real Noticia Via Flickr/CC-0-Public Domain
