PTI, Washington :
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has taken a lead – albeit a small one and within margin of error – over her Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in a new national poll, the first after last week’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Trump (48 per cent) leads Clinton (45 per cent) by three per cent in a two-way match up, CNN/ORC said.
In a four-way contest with two other presidential candidates from minor parties, Trump is leading Clinton by five percentage points.
Post conventions, presidential candidates do get a major jump in their popularity ratings.
Democratic National Convention begins in Philadelphia tomorrow, which would formally nominate Clinton as party’s presidential nominee.
In RealClearPolitics.Com, which keeps track of all major polls, in an average of recent major national polls, Clinton leads Trump by 1.9 per cent.
Clinton’s lead over Trump has been reducing every passing week.
CNN/ORC said after the Cleveland Convention, Trump has received major jump in support from independents.
Cleveland also helped Trump make strides in his personal image, the poll said.
A majority (52 per cent) now say Trump is running for president for the good of the country rather than personal gain, just 44 per cent say the same about Clinton.
Reuters adds: Republican nominee Donald Trump said on Monday that if elected US president he would weigh an alliance with Russia against the militant Islamic State (IS) group but rejected any suggestion Russian President Vladimir Putin might be trying to help him win.
Speaking at a rally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Trump dismissed any suggestion that Putin’s intelligence services might have had a hand in hacking the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) email system.
Emails leaked last week disclosed that some party officials had been in favor of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton winning the Democratic presidential nomination over US Senator Bernie Sanders and sought ways to thwart Sanders.
The uproar over the WikiLeaks revelations prompted Debbie Wasserman Schultz to resign as DNC chairwoman, and Trump eagerly injected himself into the controversy.
Trump dismissed a charge from Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook that Russian hackers might have stolen the emails and leaked them to embarrass Democrats and help Trump defeat Clinton in the Nov. 8 election.
“I don’t think it’s coincidental that these emails were released on the eve of our convention here, and I think that’s disturbing,” Mook told CNN’s “State of the Union.” Trump dismissed what he called “one of the weirdest conspiracy theories” he said he had heard.
