Clinton Growing Lead On Trump In Another National Poll

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has had a rough week-and-a-half since the first presidential debate. Now, the national polls are starting to reflect it.

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released October 5, and conducted September 29 through October 3, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is leading Donald Trump by seven percentage points in the polls. Clinton holds 44 percent of likely voters, while Trump only grabs 37 percent.

In a four-way ballot (including third party candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein), Clinton maintains her lead. The poll finds that Clinton has 42 percent support in the four-way ballot, with Trump second at 36 percent, Johnson at eight percent, and Stein at two percent.

According to FiveThirtyEight, the polls-plus forecaster, which incorporates polling data, historical data, and economic patterns, predicts that Clinton has a 71.7 percent chance of winning the presidency come November 8. The Now-cast model, which predicts who would win the presidency if the election were held that day, gave Clinton an 81.9 percent chance of winning the election on October 5.

“What gives me confidence right now is we have a number of different paths to the White House,” Robby Mook, campaign manager for Hillary Clinton, said, notes Politico. “I feel good about our prospects in all these battleground states right now, in part because of the ground game we have put in place, but the bar is really high for Donald Trump. I would argue he has to win Florida, he has to win North Carolina, he probably has to win Pennsylvania. And that’s a very narrow path.”

“Stick to the themes, stay on the themes,” Matt Schlapp chairman of the American Conservative Union, said, offering advice to the Trump campaign. “You know, Mike Pence talked about the economy, national security, and about a broken Washington [at the debate]. … If they can stay on those themes and not get pulled over onto all this other stuff, we’re going to do great.”

Sources: Ipsos North America, FiveThirtyEight, Politico / Photo Credit: Hillary Clinton / Instagram