One week before the election and four days after FBI Director James Comey revealed that his agency had come across a set of emails that may or may not be relevant to the Clinton email case, the race for the White House is suddenly shockingly close. According to a new Washington Post/ABC News national tracking poll, Donald Trump now leads Hillary Clinton by one point 46 to 45 percent, which for all intents and purposes is a tie.
That’s not even the worst of it as far as Democrats are concerned. That same Washington Post/ABC News poll also showed that Trump voters are way more excited about their candidate than Clinton voters. While 53 percent of likely Trump voters said they are “very enthusiastic” about Trump, just 43 percent of Clinton voters said the same about thing her.
This enthusiasm gap has grown significantly in the past week or so.
See more news and opinion from Thom Hartmann at Truthout here.
For now, at least, that poll is the only one that has Trump ahead or tied with Clinton at a national level, and aggregate polls still show the former secretary of state with around a five-point lead. But things really are getting closer, especially in the swing states.
A new Elon University poll, for example, now shows a virtual tie between Clinton and Trump in North Carolina. A new NBC News poll shows the same situation at play in Florida.
Obviously, Hillary Clinton still has a very good chance of winning this election, and these tightening poll numbers might just be the result of hardening partisanship seven days before the conclusion of the nastiest presidential election in recent history. But if the conspiracy theories are true and James Comey was trying to disrupt Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign — or at least keep the election close enough for Republicans to keep the Senate — it looks like he may have succeeded.
Urgent! We have a limited amount of time
Truthout has launched a crucial fundraising campaign to support our work. We have 9 days to raise $50,000.
Every single day, our team is reporting deeply on complex political issues: revealing wrongdoing in our so-called justice system, tracking global attacks on human rights, unmasking the money behind right-wing movements, and more. Your donation at this moment is critical, allowing us to do this core journalistic work.
Help safeguard what’s left of our democracy. Please make a tax-deductible gift before time runs out.