Trump Now Trails In Every National Poll

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton now leads her Republican counterpart, Donald Trump, in every major national poll.

Trump fell into second place in the USC/Los Angeles Times Daybreak tracking poll on Oct. 12, for the first time since early September. This poll — which measures different criteria than most others and tends to skew toward Trump — was the only one he was leading, following a leaked recording of him speaking about women in a sexually aggressive way.

In the poll, Trump just slightly trails Clinton with 44 percent to her 44.4 percent – well within the survey’s margin of error.  The poll tends to be an outlier in favor of Trump, since it asks respondents not only which candidate they lean toward but also how likely they are to vote for each of the two major candidates or another one on a scale of zero to 100. It then compiles a daily projection. Poll results after major events – such as Trump’s audio leak – tend to take a little more than a week to be factored into the survey.

The poll used similar methods in 2012 and accurately predicted President Barack Obama’s re-election victory within half of a percentage point.

Clinton currently leads Trump by 5.5 points nationally, according to polling averages compiled by Real Clear Politics.

The GOP nominee’s numbers have dipped following the release of lewd comments recorded on a hot microphone in 2005, which 42 percent of Americans, including 19 percent of registered Republicans, said disqualified him from the presidency. conversely, 42 percent said that it did not disqualify him according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

In that survey, 61 percent of respondents said that “lots of men” occasionally say similar things, and a 46-percent plurality said that it was not fair to judge a person based on conversations “that they did not intend for anyone else to hear.” Even so, most respondents said that they believe Trump is sexist.

A 58-percent majority of Republicans said that they do not think Trump should bow out of the race, and 68 percent said that Republican party officials should back him.

Sources: Los Angeles Times (2), Real Clear Politics, Reuters / Photo Credit: Michael Vadon/Flickr