Trump and Clinton tied in latest poll before debate
Democratic candidate's lead among women and young people has narrowed
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are locked in a tied two-way race for the presidency as they head to Hofstra University in New York on Monday night forone of the most highly anticipated debates in modern politics.
The Republican and Democratic nominees each get 46 per cent of likely voters in a head-to-head contest in the latest Bloomberg Politics national poll, while Trump leads 43 per cent to Clinton’s 41 per cent when third-party candidates are included.
Clinton faces higher expectations as tens of millions of people tune in for a television spectacle that could reach Super Bowl viewership levels. About half, 49 per cent, say they anticipate the former secretary of state will perform better, while 39 per cent believe Trump will win the debate.
Ann Selzer, the Iowa-based pollster who oversaw the survey, said there were signs that Clinton’s margins with women and young voters have eroded over the past three months, helping to explainTrump’s gains.
Clinton had a 6-point advantage on Trump in the two-way race in August and a 4-point advantage when third-party candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein were included. She had a 12-point edge on Trump in June, when Johnson was also included.
The Democrat had a 26-point lead among female likely voters in June, when she was tested against both Trump and Johnson. She has a 13-point advantage in this poll when measured only against Trump, getting 52 per cent to his 39 per cent—similar to her 15-point advantage in August.
Among likely voters under 35 years old, Clinton gets 50 per cent to Trump’s 40 per cent, down from her 29-point margin in August in the two-way race and from her 26-point margin in June in the three-way race.
The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 points. It was taken from Wednesday to Saturday, after Clinton took political heat for calling half of Trump’s supporters “deplorables” and for disclosing she had pneumonia after a video caught herfalling ill at a September 11 ceremony.
Both major nominees face skepticism from a majority of likely voters about their trustworthiness and their willingness to tell the public everything it wants to know to decide if they are fit to serve. More than seven in 10 rate Clinton’s truthfulness as “just fair” or “poor,” while more than six in 10 say that of Trump.
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