Latest Polls: Trump vs. Clinton Race Tightens With Candidates Battling Within A Point Or 2 Of Each Other

With little more than a week to go before Election Day, the latest presidential opinion polls indicated Democrat Hillary Clinton has a slight edge over Republican Donald Trump nationally.

The polls were taken as FBI Director James Comey wrote a letter to Republican congressional leaders saying the agency had reopened the investigation into Clinton’s private email server but did not know whether the emails involved related to Clinton herself.

The emails surfaced in an investigation into whether disgraced former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner violated federal law in allegedly sexting an underage girl in North Carolina. Weiner is the estranged husband of long-time Clinton aide Huma Abedin. The emails were found on a computer the couple both had used.

Polls from ABC/Washington post and Investor’s Business Daily/TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence give Clinton a 1- to 2-point edge while the Los Angeles Times/University of Southern California poll put Trump 2 points ahead. Among swing states, the New York Times/Sienna poll has Trump 4 points ahead in Florida; the CBS News/YouGov poll gave Clinton a 3-point lead in Colorado, and the NBC/Wall Street Journal Marist poll had Clinton six points ahead in North Carolina.

The ABC/Washington Post poll showed the greatest change. Last week’s poll had Clinton 12 points ahead. Sunday’s results indicate Clinton is leading Trump 46 percent to 45 percent, well within the margin of error.

About a third of voters said they are less likely to support Clinton following Comey’s announcement, but most of them had been backing Trump anyway. Seven percent of Clinton supporters said Comey’s revelation gives them pause. The question is whether this sentiment will propel more of Trump’s supporters to turn out on Election Day.

The poll indicated Clinton has a 19-point lead among independents, mostly the result of support from women. Trump leads Clinton by 15 points among whites. Clinton has a 21-point lead among the college educated while Trump has a 12-point lead among those who lack a college degree.

The poll was conducted Oct. 25-28 among 1,160 likely voters. It has an error rate of 3 points.

The IBD/TIPP poll indicates Clinton leading 44 percent to 42 percent, with Clinton having the edge in all regions of the country except the South, among women, among minorities among those with a college degree, among investors, among those in urban and suburban areas, among nonparents and among those who say they don’t belong to any organized religion.

The poll was conducted among 1,039 likely voters Oct. 24-29 and has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.

The LA Times/USC poll puts Trump in the lead, 46 percent to 44 percent but does not reflect Comey’s announcement. The poll, which consistently has put Trump ahead, is more heavily weighted than the others toward people who did not vote in 2012 but who say they will vote come Nov. 8. The poll tracks 3,000 people each week.

The New York Times/Sienna College poll indicates Trump leads Clinton in Florida 46 percent to 42 percent while the NBC/Marist pollhas Clinton leading 45 percent to 44 percent and a Dixie Strategies poll gave Trump a 4-point lead, 46 percent to 42 percent.

The CBS/YouGov poll of Colorado voters gives Clinton a 42 percent to 39 percent lead over Trump while the NBC/Marist poll of North Carolina voters indicated Clinton is leading 47 percent to 41 percent.

The Emerson College Polling Society surveyed voters in the battleground states of Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Nevada. The results indicate Clinton is leading in Florida by a point, in Wisconsin by 6 points, in North Carolina by 3 points and in Nevada by 2 points. The poll indicates the candidates are tied in Ohio at 45 percent each. The margin of error ranged from 3.4 points to 4.9 points.

Overall, the RealClear Politics average of major polls gives Clinton a 4.3-point edge, 47.6 percent to 43.3 percent.