Day Ahead Of Debate Latest Polls Show Trump-Clinton Race Tightening

With one day to go before the first 2016 presidential debate, the latest Los Angeles Times/USC Tracking poll Sunday put Republican Donald Trump ahead of Democrat Hillary Clinton by 4 points, but an ABC News/Washington Post poll gave Clinton a 2-point edge.

In a four-way race including Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Party‘s Jill Stein, the ABC/Post poll also gave Clinton a 2-point edge.

Seventy-four percent of voters plan to watch Monday night’s debate at Hofstra University even though 80 percent say it likely won’t change their minds, the ABC/Post poll indicates.

On Sunday’s talk shows, Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Trump will be truthful during the confrontation while Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta warned Trump will pepper his responses with falsehoods.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, who lost the Democratic nomination to Clinton, said on “Face the Nation” voters should not vote for third-party candidates, saying the stakes are too high.

“This moment in history for a presidential election is not the time for a protest vote,” Sanders said.

The LA Times poll gives Trump 46.4 percent to Clinton’s 42.3 percent and indicates he is leading in all age groups — with the biggest margin among voters more than 65 years of age where the margin grows to 50.8 percent vs. 42.6 percent. Trump puts up a 54.5 percent to 36.5 percent among voters with a high school education or less, and a 52.2 percent to 36 percent margin among those earning $35,000 to $75,000.

Black voters favor Clinton 79.5 percent to 14.7 percent while white voters favor Trump 54.5 percent to 33 percent, the poll indicates. By gender, women favor Clinton 48.4 percent to 40 percent for Trump while men favor Trump 53 percent to 35.9 percent for Clinton.

The poll of 400 people is conducted daily among a sample of 3,000 and began July 4. It has a 95 percent confidence interval.

The ABC/Post poll indicates about 60 percent of voters don’t see Trump as qualified to be president. They also see him as untrustworthy and not knowledgeable enough about world affairs.

Forty-four percent of voters said they would vote for Trump if the election were today while 46 percent said they prefer Clinton. Support for Johnson slipped to just 5 percent. Noncollege white men prefer Trump by 76 percent to 17 percent for Clinton. Among college-educated white women, 57 percent prefer Clinton to 32 percent for Trump.

The ABC/Post poll indicates 59 percent of Americans see Trump unfavorably, well down from his peak of 70 percent in mid-June, while 55 percent view Clinton unfavorably. Fifty-seven percent say Clinton is qualified to be president while 47 percent say Trump is.

Sixty-four percent say Trump should release his tax returns.

Voters said the economy is the most important issue, followed by terrorism, corruption in government, immigration and crime. On the economy, Clinton is favored 62 percent to 27 percent; on terrorism, Trump leads 58 percent to 38 percent.

The poll was conducted among 1,001 adults, including 651 likely voters, Monday through Thursday and has an error rate of 3.5 points for the full sample and 4.5 percent among likely voters.

In Pennsylvania, the Allentown Morning Call finds Clinton leading by 2 points in a four-way race and by 3 points in a two-way race.

In Maine, the Portland Press Herald reported Clinton leading by 4 points in a four-way race.