Trump draws even with Clinton in national
White House poll
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[May 12, 2016]
By Ginger Gibson and Amanda Becker
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Donald
Trump pulled even with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in a
Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Wednesday, in a dramatic early
sign that the Nov. 8 presidential election might be more hotly contested
than first thought.
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Donald Trump signs autographs at the end of a campaign rally in Eugene,
Oregon. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart |
While much can change in the six months until the election,
the results of the online survey are a red flag for the Clinton
campaign that the billionaire's unorthodox bid for the White House
cannot be brushed aside.
Trump's numbers surged after he effectively won the Republican
nomination last week by knocking out his two remaining rivals,
according to the poll.
The national survey found 41 percent of likely voters supporting
Clinton and 40 percent backing Trump, with 19 percent undecided. The
survey of 1,289 people was conducted over five days and has a
credibility interval of 3 percentage points.
"Very happy to see these numbers," Trump said in a written comment
to Reuters. "Good direction." A spokesman for Clinton's campaign did
not respond to requests for comment on the poll.
A Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted in the five days to May 4 had the
former secretary of state at 48 percent and the New York magnate at
35 percent.
Republican strategist Dave Carney said the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed
the vulnerability of Clinton, who is still battling U.S. Senator
from Vermont Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination.
 “She has been in the public eye for decades, served in high office,
and now she’s in a dead heat with Trump, in a race that everyone
thought she would win easily,” said Carney, who has been critical of
Trump. “Everyone thought it would be a romp.”
REPUBLICAN RELUCTANCE
Trump has his own problems, though. He is struggling to bring some
senior Republicans behind his campaign after primary election
battles in which his fiery rhetoric rankled party elites.
Several Republican leaders -- including House of Representatives
Speaker Paul Ryan -- are withholding their support.
"After a tough primary, that's going to take some effort," Ryan said
about unifying the party. "We are committed to putting that effort
in."
The former reality TV star will face pressure to tone down his
rhetoric and clarify his policy positions when he visits Republican
lawmakers, including Ryan, on Thursday.
Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney criticized Trump
on Wednesday for not releasing his tax returns, saying the only
explanation was that the documents contained a
"bombshell."
Trump has said that he will make public his tax returns on the
completion of an audit.
Clinton and Trump both poll well with voters of their respective
parties, but independent voters continue to express uncertainty
about who they will support, with 38 percent in the Reuters/Ipsos
poll saying they are unsure or would vote for someone else.
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With the party's primary season winding down, the two likely
nominees have turned their attention to attacking each other, both
on policy and personality.
Clinton took aim at Trump's tax reform plan at a rally in New Jersey
on Wednesday.
With a typical American family earning $54,000 per year, Clinton
said, "It would take that family 24 years of work to earn what
Donald Trump’s tax plan will hand out to people like him in just one
year. That is no way to create good job with rising incomes for the
vast majority of Americans, is it?"
Trump has taunted Clinton in recent days for failing to "close the
deal" against Sanders.
University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato said
Trump - who has promised to force Mexico to pay for a border wall to
halt illegal immigration and called for a temporary ban on Muslims
entering the country - could also face a wall of opposition among
minority voters.
"This is an election that will be determined as much by the
demographic composition of the American electorate as anything else
- and that didn’t change in a week," he said.
Clinton's loss in the Democratic primary election in West Virginia
on Tuesday also signaled possible trouble for her in industrial
states in November, underscoring how she still needs to court
working-class voters in the Rust Belt.
Roughly six in 10 voters in West Virginia, which has one of the
highest unemployment rates in country, said they were very worried
about the direction of the U.S. economy in the next few years,
according to a preliminary ABC News exit poll.

The same proportion cited the economy and jobs as the most important
issue in the election.
(Additional reporting by Alana Wise, Megan Cassella, Emily
Stephenson Timothy Ahmann and Susan Cornwell; Editing by Jeffrey
Benkoe and Alistair Bell)
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