Reuters, New York :Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s lead over Republican rival Donald Trump narrowed to less than 3 percentage points, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Friday, down from nearly eight points on Monday.About 42 percent of likely voters favoured Clinton, to Trump’s 39 percent, according to the July 31-Aug. 4 online poll of 1,154 likely voters. The poll had a credibility interval of plus or minus 3 percentage points, meaning that the results suggest the race is roughly even.Among registered voters over the same period, Clinton held a lead of five percentage points, down from eight percentage points on Monday, according to the poll. The reasons behind the shift were unclear. Clinton had pulled well ahead of Trump on the heels of the Democratic National Convention last week, where she became the first woman to accept the US presidential nomination from a major political party. Since then, Trump has engaged in a days-long feud with the family of an American soldier killed in Iraq and squabbled with the Republican leadership over his comments and leadership turmoil within his campaign.Trump, in recent days, however, has sought to refocus. On Friday he announced his economic policy advisory team, said he would deliver an economic policy speech early next week, and was expected to endorse US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the top US elected Republican, who is seeking his 10th term in Congress.An average of polls aggregated by Real Clear Politics showed Clinton ahead of Trump by 6.8 percentage points on Friday, up from 3.9 on Aug. 1.The latest numbers are accompanied by a few caveats, however, not least of all is the fact that they arrive in the dead of summer and on the heels of Clinton’s historic presidential nomination at last week’s Democratic National Convention.Still, Clinton’s sudden surge seems to reflect more than a simple post-convention boost.Not only are her numbers rising, but the polls also show a major recent drop in support for Trump amid a cacophony of controversy that includes ongoing feuds with the Gold Star parents of a fallen Muslim American soldier as well as members of the GOP’s top brass, reports of chaos and frustration within both Trump’s campaign and his party, and a growing list of prominent Republicans publicly defecting to the Clinton camp.A McClatchy/Marist poll released Thursday put Clinton at a 15-point lead over Trump, with the chasm between the candidates growing from a tight 42-39 last month to 48-33.In addition to welcoming a new wave of fans from within Clinton’s own party, the pollster noted that she has also seen a recent surge in support from white voters and men – “two constituencies crucial to a Republican victory,” the firm wrote.Other polls showed Clinton expanding her advantage by slightly more modest – though still significant – margins.According to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Thursday, the former secretary of state has almost doubled her lead over Trump since last month, a mere 5 points before both party conventions to a more substantial 9 this week.In terms of demographics, the NBC/WSJ poll found Clinton beating Trump by wide margins with women (51-35), young voters (46-34), white voters with a college degree (47-40), and all non-white voters (69-17). By far the starkest contrast in support was seen among African-American voters, only 1 percent of whom favored Trump compared with 91 percent for Clinton. And among the groups that did favor the Republican nominee in the poll, his advantage over Clinton was much smaller.When paired with their respective running mates, the same poll found that 47 percent of registered voters favor Clinton and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine while 38 percent support the GOP ticket with Trump and running mate Mike Pence.Similarly, a Fox News poll released Wednesday found 49 percent of voters supported a Clinton-Kaine ticket while 39 percent were in favor of Republicans Trump and Pence.Clinton also appears to be making strides at the state level.On Friday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published the results of a poll that showed Clinton taking the lead over Trump in Georgia, a state that has voted for every Republican presidential nominee since 1996. Though relatively narrow, Clinton’s 44-40 percent lead over Trump in Georgia this week showed a significant change since May, when the last AJC poll found Trump beating Clinton 45-41.”Georgia still isn’t directly in Clinton’s crosshairs, and her campaign has yet to declare Georgia a battleground state,” the AJC noted. “But a common strain from the Democratic and Republican conventions was that Georgia has the chance to turn blue for the first time since Bill Clinton’s 1992 win over President George H.W. Bush.”
