Polls paint new picture of national race ahead of GOP convention
Donald Trump is making slight gains on presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, according to a new national poll released on the eve of the Republican party's national convention kickoff in Cleveland.
In an ABC News/Washington Post survey, Clinton still holds a four-point lead over Trump among registered voters nationwide, with the former secretary of state leading 47 percent to Trump's 43 percent. Last month's poll had Clinton with a double-digit advantage: 51 percent to Trump's 39 percent.
Both candidates remain deeply unpopular, with voters holding the Democratic candidate in a slightly less unfavorable view than Trump. Sixty-four percent of Americans view Trump unfavorably, versus 31 percent that don't. For Clinton, 54 percent see her unfavorably, while 42 percent have favorable views.
Other polls show a slightly tighter race ahead of the conventions.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey found that Clinton has 46 percent of support nationwide, compared to Trump's 41 percent -- a five-point lead for the former secretary of state that remained unchanged from last month, when they last conducted the poll.
A CNN/ORC national poll also hints at the possible rise of a third-party candidate: Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson. Clinton leads with 42 percent, Trump with 37 percent, Johnson with 13 percent, and Stein with 5 percent. While Clinton and Trump's numbers barely budged from the last time CNN/ORC conducted their survey, Johnson jumped four points.
In a two-way matchup between Clinton and Trump, however, Clinton still boasts a seven-point advantage: 49 percent to Trump's 42 percent.
The ABC/Washington Post poll was conducted July 11-14 among 1,003 adults, with a margin of error of 4 points among the sample of 816 registered voters. The NBC/WSJ poll was conducted July 9-13 among 1,000 registered voters, with a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points. The CNN/ORC poll was conducted July 13-16 among a random national sample of 1,013 adults, including 872 registered voters. Results for the sample of registered voters have a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.