WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 1: A week before the US presidential elections, Republican nominee Donald Trump has taken a slender lead of one percentage point against his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for the first time since May in a major national tracking poll.
Trump has overtaken Clinton in the ABC News/ Washington Post tracking poll, according to which the Republican candidate has the support of 46 per cent of the likely voters as against 45 per cent by the former secretary of state.
“Strong enthusiasm for Clinton has lost seven points since the start of tracking, especially Friday through Sunday.
This is possibly an after-effect of the renewed controversy over her use of a private email server while secretary of state. Trump’s strong enthusiasm has held steady in tracking, which started October 20,” the poll said.
According to the poll, Trump now leads Clinton by eight points in the share of voters who are very enthusiastic about their choice as of Friday.
But, compared to past elections it’s low for both of them - 53 per cent for Trump, 45 per cent for Clinton, it said.
However, in RealClearPolitics average of polls Trump trails Clinton by 2.2 percentage points.
RealClearPolitics tracks all major national polls.
Till about two weeks ago, Clinton was leading Trump by more than eight points in this average of polls.
Trump in a tweet celebrated results of the latest poll.
“Wow, now leading in @ABC/@washingtonpost Poll 46 to 45.
Gone up 12 points in two weeks, mostly before the Crooked Hillary blow-up!” he said.
In another tweet, Trump slammed Clinton for alleged email scandal and claimed she is not fit to be the US president.
“Look at the way Crooked Hillary is handling the e-mail case and the total mess she is in. She is unfit to be president. Bad judgement!” Trump said in the first tweet of the day.
“Crooked Hillary should not be allowed to run for president. She deleted 33,000 e-mails AFTER getting a subpoena from US Congress. RIGGED!” Trump said in his third tweet.
In the last few days, various polls coming out from key battleground states indicate that the polls are tightening and it might not be a cakewalk for Clinton any longer.
For instance in Virginia, where Clinton was leading comfortably in double digit, the latest poll indicate that Trump is now trailing by six points.
In the last two weeks, Trump has pumped in USD 3 million in local advertisements.
However, a reliable election model today predicted a win for Clinton in the November 8 presidential elections.
Moody’s Analytics, latest model today forecast Clinton winning 332 electoral votes to Trump s 206.
The Moody’s model which picks a party, not a candidate has predicted every election correctly since it was created in 1980.
Will neither defend or criticise FBI decision on Clinton: WH
WASHINGTON: The White House has refused to weigh in on the FBI decision to reopen its probe in the alleged email scandal of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, a move that has triggered a firestorm just days ahead of the presidential election.
US President Barack Obama has full confidence in the FBI Director James Comey, who he believes is not trying to influence the elections, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news conference yesterday.
The spokesman also refused to either defend or criticise the decision.
“I’ll neither defend nor criticise what Director Comey has decided to communicate to the public about this investigation,” Earnest said.
He was responding to questions on a letter written by Comey to Congressional leaders last week that he is reopening the case against Clinton following finding of pertinent emails related to the case.
The letter has created a firestorm ahead of the November 8 general election, with the Clinton Campaign questioning the intent of Comey less than 10 days before the crucial elections and has asked for more information from the FBI.
The Trump Campaign has welcomed the decision.
“What I will say is that the Department of Justice in our democracy is given expansive authority to conduct investigations. The Department of Justice is given subpoena power, they’re allowed to compel witnesses to testify, they are able to collect evidence that’s not readily available necessarily, they’re even allowed to empanel a grand jury,” Earnest said.
The FBI comes under the control of Department of Justice.
“It’s important in the mind of the president that those authorities are tempered by an adherence to long-standing tradition and practice and norms that limit public discussion of facts that are collected in the context of those investigations.
“And the president believes that it’s important for those norms and traditions and guidelines to be followed,” he said.
“The good news is the president believes that Director Comey is a man of integrity, he’s a man of principle and he’s a man of good character,” Earnest said.
“That presumably is the reason that (the former US) President (George) Bush chose him to serve in a senior position at the Bush administration’s Department of Justice,” he said.
Responding to a question, he said Obama does not believe that Comey is trying to influence the elections.
“The president doesn’t believe that Director Comey is intentionally trying to influence the outcome of an election.
The president doesn’t believe that he’s secretly strategising to benefit one candidate or one political party,” he said.
