National polls: Tight race, Clinton hanging on

By Tom Kludt

CNN

The 2016 presidential race is coming down to the wire, but an average of national polls show Hillary Clinton continuing to edge out Donald Trump with five days to go before Election Day.

CNN’s Poll of Polls shows Clinton leading Donald Trump, 46%-42%, which was updated Thursday to include two new national polls taken after Friday’s revelation that the FBI is reviewing new emails to see if they pertain to the bureau’s probe into Clinton’s handling of classified material at the State Department.

The CNN Poll of Polls is based on an average of the five most recent national phone polls.

In one, via CBS News and the New York Times, Clinton leads Trump among likely voters nationwide, 45%-42%. The other, a new ABC News/Washington Post tracking poll, shows Clinton with a 2-point edge, 47%-45%.

In each poll, Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein — once thought of as potential spoilers — hover in the low single-digits. The CNN Poll of Polls currently shows Johnson and Stein at 4% and 3%, respectively.

It was only a couple weeks ago when Clinton’s lead ballooned in several national polls after the release of a video in which Trump could be heard making sexually aggressive comments about how he treats women. That revelation was followed by an onslaught of sexual misconduct allegations levied against Trump that seemed to only further diminish his chances. Trump denied all the allegations.

Clinton’s campaign was then rocked by the letter FBI Director James Comey sent to members of Congress regarding the potential for new email scrutiny.

The latest CBS/New York Times poll suggests that most voters are unaffected by the development. About 6-in-10 likely voters who haven’t cast their ballot yet said the FBI’s announcement makes no difference to them, while 32% said it made them less likely to support Clinton.

The CBS/New York Times poll was conducted October 28-November 1 using phone interviews with 1,333 likely voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The ABC/Washington Post tracking poll was conducted October 29-November 1 using phone interviews with 1,167 likely voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.