GOP NOMINEE PULLS AHEAD OF HILLARY CLINTON
GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has pulled ahead of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in three new national polls.
Trump leads Clinton by a 44-39 percent margin according to the latest CNN/ORC survey. Libertarian party nominee Gary Johnson received nine percent support in that poll, while Green party nominee Jill Stein got four percent.
The CNN/ORC poll was taken after the conclusion of last week’s “Republican” national convention in Cleveland – which wasn’t exactly smooth sailing for “The Donald.”
Trump’s wife, Melania Trump, was involved in a plagiarism scandal – while his former rival Ted Cruz refused to endorse him in a high-profile speech. Finally, Trump’s “America First” acceptance address was widely panned by the national media.
Nonetheless, Trump got a post-convention “bump” – the first time that’s happened in American politics in more than a decade-and-a-half.
“There hasn’t been a significant post-convention bounce in CNN’s polling since 2000,” CNN’s pollsters noted. “That year Al Gore and George W. Bush both boosted their numbers by an identical eight points post-convention before ultimately battling all the way to the Supreme Court.”
CNN/ORC survey’s was conducted between July 22-24.
During that time, Clinton’s campaign was dogged by several problems – including a major email scandal involving the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the release of a new documentary highlighting her and her husband Bill Clinton‘s shadowy network of financial support.
Finally, Clinton did her “progressive” base no favors last week when she nominated U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia as her running mate.
In addition to the CNN/ORC survey, a new Los Angeles Times/ University of Southern California poll showed Trump leading Clinton by a 45.4 percent to 41.3 percent margin. Meanwhile a new Morning Consult survey shows Trump leading Clinton by a 44-40 percent spread – with Johnson getting 10 percent of the vote.
Obviously national polling is largely irrelevant.
The polls that matter can be found in critical swing states like Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
In 2012, the “electable” GOP nominee Mitt Romney lost all but one of those states (North Carolina), while in 2008 “Republican” nominee John McCain lost all of them.