Press. voanews.com.
With the U.S. presidential election only days away, new polling results
indicate the race has tightened, with Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton
clinging to a narrow lead over Republican Donald Trump. The RealClear Politics national average on
Thursday showed Clinton holding on to a thin 47 percent to 45.3 percent lead
over Trump among likely voters — a dip from her 49.0 to 41.9 margin on October
18.
A New York Times/CBS News poll released Thursday also showed the
distance between the two candidates has tightened, with Clinton holding a 45
percent to 42 percent lead over Trump in a four-way race that includes
Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein.
"I don't see that she's dropped that much," University of
Maryland political science professor James Gimpel said in an interview with
VOA. "What's different is that Trump has come up, but it's not been at her
expense." Gimpel said Johnson is paying the price for Trump's gains in
recent polls as some reluctant Republicans are "coming home" to their
Republican nominee.
Clinton backers shrug off emails
The New York Times/CBS News poll began hours after FBI Director James
Comey sent a letter to congressional leaders Friday announcing he will revisit
the inquiry into Clinton's improper use of emails when she was secretary of
state. But, Gimpel said, Clinton's generally stable poll standings have been
mostly unaffected by the controversial FBI investigation.
"How people can be saying that the Clinton campaign is falling
through the floor and that the Comey investigation has caused it? How they can
be saying that is pure fantasy," he said.
University of Virginia Center for Politics political analyst Geoffrey Skelley
agrees the FBI inquiry has not adversely affected Clinton, even though recent
polls show the race has tightened.
Skelley told VOA the FBI disclosure made little difference among
Democrats, and most independent voters have already committed to the candidate
of their choice. "But Republicans are now more enthused and more likely to
support Trump,” he said, “probably because … a reminder [of] the email scandal
for Clinton has reminded Republicans that they really don't like Hillary
Clinton."
As the two candidates enter the final stretch of what has been a
contentious presidential campaign, Clinton must encourage voters to go to the
polls, according to Fordham University political science professor Christina
Greer.
"It's all about turnout, and she really needs to make sure that
African-Americans and young people and Asians and Latinos vote," Greer
said in an interview with VOA. "Forget about white men, that ship has
sailed. They're not with her, so don't waste your time on that demographic."
Battleground states
Greer believes Clinton needs heavy turnout among her targeted
demographic groups because the two third-party candidates, despite their
negligible standings in the polls, may get enough votes in certain swing states
to have a significant impact when Electoral College votes are tallied
"because we are in a winner-take-all system." The Trump campaign
should devote all its resources on battleground states where "he seems to
be moving upward at the expense of Johnson," Gimpel said.
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