With just five days until the first U.S. presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, new polling shows a tightening race between the two candidates — an unnerving sign for Democrats.
Democrat Hillary Clinton’s edge over Republican Donald Trump has been diminishing rapidly over the weeks and is down to 1.1 points from a full 6 points in August, according to the Real Clear Politics average of major polls.
Clinton’s recent “deplorables” comment regarding Trump supporters and health issues surrounding her pneumonia diagnosis may be contributing to her faltering numbers.
A poll by Morning Consult found that that 70 per cent of respondents considered Trump’s health to be average or better, while just 50 per cent thought the same thing for Clinton. And 50 per cent said Clinton has given false information about her personal health to the public, compared with 37 per cent who said the same of Trump.
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On Monday, Clinton’s campaign sent out a memo hoping to ease the concerns of supporters and reminded them the Democrats have the easiest pathway to 270 electoral votes.
“Battleground states carry that name for a reason: They’re going to be close, from now until Election Day,” wrote campaign manager Robby Mook. “But we are going to win them because we’ve spent the past year building a superior ground game to communicate our message and turn our people out to vote. So instead of worrying, let’s just get to work!”
As Trump and Clinton prepare for Monday’s debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York the key battleground states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida have emerged as key states for each candidate.
In Ohio, the Real Clear Politics average put Trump up by 1.2 percentage points, while the FiveThirtyEight election forecast website Wednesday gave Trump a 60.1 percent chance of winning the state.
Clinton is still ahead in Pennsylvania where she is up 6.6 percentage points against Trump according to Real Clear Politics. FiveThirtyEight has given her a 67.1 percent chance of winning the state in the general election.
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Another must win state for Trump is North Carolina, where he has less than a 60 per cent chance of winning, according to FiveThirtyEight.
The Sunshine State is a close two-way race between Clinton and Trump. Real Clear Politics says the two are tied in Florida. Clinton previously had a 4.5 point lead over Trump just a month ago.
FiveThirtyEight also predicts Florida will be a close call with Trump at 55.2 per cent chance of winning and Clinton trailing at 44.8 percent.
— With files from the Associated Press
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