Clinton And Trump Are Tied With Election Just 5 Days Away: IBD/TIPP Poll
Clinton And Trump Are Tied With Election Just 5 Days Away: IBD/TIPP Poll
JOHN MERLINE
6:04 AM ET
Hillary Clinton's lead has entirely vanished since Friday, with the race now deadlocked at 44% to 44%, according to the latest IBD/TIPP presidential tracking poll.
Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson's support held steady 4%, as did Green Party candidate Jill Stein's at 2%.
When asked to choose only between Trump and Clinton, voters are also equally divided, with both candidates now at 44%.
The unrounded data show Trump with a slight lead in both the four-way and two-way matchups. In the four-way race, Trump gets 44.4%, Hillary 44.0%, Johnson 4.1%. and Stein 2.2%. In the two-way poll, Trump is at 44.2% to Clinton's 44.0%.
The poll of 862 likely voters nationwide has a margin of error of +/- 3.4 percentage points. On a weighted basis, the poll included 335 Democrats, 292 Republicans and 233 Independents. The results are based on a rolling average of 5 days' worth of polling, and so they now fully reflect the aftermath of the FBI's bombshell announcement on Friday that it was examining thousands of new emails "pertinent" to the Clinton email scandal.
Trump has made gains among both independents (he's up 5 points to 46%) and Republicans (up four points to 88%) since Friday. What's more, 70% of voters now say they strongly back Trump (up from 65% on four days ago).
Voters also now view Trump more favorably than Clinton — 43% to 41% — and more honest and trustworthy — 50% to 41%.
Clinton's support has also strengthened as the election gets closer, with 65% saying they strongly support her, up from 62% on Saturday.
The IBD/TIPP poll has consistently shown the race to be far closer than the average of other polls. As of Tuesday night, the Real Clear Politics average of presidential tracking polls had Clinton up 2.2 points in a four-way race, and 2.2 points in a two-way matchup. It also shows more states moving into the "toss-up" category based on state polls. Since October 29, her lead among"likely" and "leaning" states shrank from 146 electoral votes to 95.
On the campaign trail, Clinton tried to put FBI bombshell behind her, telling one audience: "I think most people have decided a long time ago what they think about all this." At the same time, Clinton's operatives were trying to discredit FBI Director James Comey.
In Florida, Clinton also tried to refocus attention on Trump's treatment of women, saying Trump is "someone who wants to bully us."
The IBD/TIPP poll indicates, however, that Trump's support among women has climbed 5 points in just a few days, and he is now doing as well with female voters as Mitt Romney was at this point in the campaign, with both getting 39% of the female vote.
Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign announced that it had relaunched ads in Virginia and Colorado, and has started running ads in New Mexico and Michigan, which had once been considered safely in the Clinton column.
Trump's campaign said it plans to spend $25 million on advertising during the final week. Clinton's campaign will pour about $14 million into ads in the campaign's final stretch, with the Hillary-backing Priorities USA Action planning to spend another $10 million.
On the trail Tuesday, Trump renewed his call for ObamaCare to be repealed as open enrollment started amid skyrocketing premiums and shrinking insurance choices.
"When we win on Nov. 8, and elect a Republican Congress, we will be able to immediately repeal and replace Obamacare," Trump said. "It's one of the single most important reasons why we must win."
More than 26 million voters have already cast their ballots, which is nearly double the early voting count at this point in 2012, according to an NBC News analysis.
http://www.investors.com/politics/cl...-ibdtipp-poll/
