U.S Poll: Donald Trump Unexpectedly Closes Up on Hillary Clinton Ahead of Election

Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, has closed the gap with his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton with just a couple weeks left in the election, the latest national Breitbart News Network/Gravis Marketing poll shows.

Hillary Clinton, at 46 percent, leads Donald Trump at 45 percent by just one point- inside the survey’s 2.3 percent margin of error. Libertarian Gary Johnson gets just 3 percent and the Green Party’s Dr. Jill Stein just 1 percent, while 4 percent are unsure.

The survey was conducted from Oct. 25 to Oct. 26, sampling 1,824 registered voters across the United States. The poll was conducted using a combination of interactive voice response polling and an internet panel of cell phone users.

“Something has happened since the third debate,” Doug Kaplan, the managing partner of Gravis Marketing, said of the poll. “Conventional wisdom was after Trump said he wouldn’t promise to accept the results of the election and made the ‘nasty woman’ comment, many thought Hillary would gain—but Trump seems to be closing the gap.

“In every election in the last 30 years, this happens where the person behind closes the gap. Hillary still has a clear electoral advantage and many paths to victory. However, Trump is not out of it but Hillary is still the favorite.

“This is a big story because it shows Trump really closing, importantly, as the other close polls are showing,”Democratic pollster Pat Caddell, who worked for President Jimmy Carter and is working with Breitbart News and Gravis Marketing on these polls, added. “He is closing with his favorability and unfavorability as well.”

Caddell said he thinks Obamacare’s failures, where premiums are skyrocketing, is one of many reasons why Trump is surging. “Among other things, that is contributing [to Trump’s rise in the polls].”

Caddell said. “When we are looking down the road at other things that may be influential, we are seeing the possibility of again on the immigration issue—that thing about concern on the border seems to be increasing as is opposition to Hillary and their plans to expand immigration and refugees, which is another big issue.

“But more importantly, at the end of the survey, we see both candidates have problems on their ability to unite the country and on whether or not they can have the moral leadership to lead. They’re basically about the same, which I consider a real improvement for Trump now that he’s that close.”

In issue-based questions, a plurality—46 percent total—said they thought it was either “very likely” or “somewhat likely” that the election would be “rigged,” one of Trump’s major talking points in the final days.

Twenty-five percent thought it is “very likely” the election is “rigged,” while 21 percent thought it was “somewhat likely.” Thirty-nine percent thought it was “not likely at all” that the election would be “rigged,” while 11 percent said it was “not very likely” and 4 percent were unsure.