US national polls: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump now virtually equal in latest polling results

U.S Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has closed in on his rival, Hillary Clinton, in the latest national tracking poll released over the weekend.

Mr Trump was far behind Hillary Clinton in all of the major polls in the last two months, but after his immigration speech last week, new results released by the polls conducted by Reuters/Ipsos indicate that the U.S presidential race is much closer now than ever as Donald Trump and Clinton are virtually tied.

According to the Reuters/Ipsos poll, 40 per cent of likely voters support Mr Trump, while 39 per cent back Ms Clinton for the week of 26 August through 1 September as Clinton’s lead has declined from an eight-point lead.

 

Mr Trump’s popularity among Republicans has also bounced six percentage points to 78 per cent over the past two weeks although he still lacks the party support held by Mitt Romney in 2012, who had 85 per cent of support from Republicans at this stage in the election.

 

The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted online in English in all 50 states. The latest poll surveyed 1,804 likely voters over the course of the week; it had a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of three percent.

In a separate question in the Reuters/Ipsos poll that included alternative-party candidates, Clinton and Trump were tied at 39 percent. Seven percent supported Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, and two percent supported Jill Stein of the Green Party.

Mr Trumps rise in the election comes after news that the FBI released details of Clinton’s interview with investigators regarding emails kept on her private servers – an issue that has plagued the Clinton campaign from the onset. 

According to the FBI's released documents of the interview;

“Clinton said she received no instructions or direction regarding the preservation or production of records from State [Department] during the transition out of her role as Secretary of State in 2013,” 

“However, in December of 2012, Clinton suffered a concussion and then around the New Year had a blood clot,” it adds. “Based on her doctor’s advice, she could only work at state for a few hours a day and could not recall every briefing she received.”

Some Americans don't believe the report with most of the opinion that Clinton mishandled classified information.  Mr Trump in his last week Wednesday's speech, seemed to win back enthusiasm as he vowed to deport millions of undocumented immigrants during his “first hour” as president. 

Source : Reuters/ Independent UK