Clinton leads Trump by 5 points in
presidential race: Reuters/Ipsos poll
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[October 08, 2016]
By Chris Kahn
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic
presidential candidate Hillary Clinton leads Republican rival Donald
Trump by 5 percentage points among likely voters, roughly the same
advantage she has held over the past several weeks, according to the
Reuters/Ipsos national tracking poll released Friday.
The Sept. 30-Oct. 6 opinion poll showed that 43 percent of likely voters
supported Clinton while 38 percent supported Trump. Clinton has
consistently led Trump by 4-6 points in every weekly poll since the
beginning of September.
During this period, the candidates faced off in the most-watched
presidential debate in history - a matchup that a majority of Americans
believed Clinton won. The New York Times also released portions of
Trump's 1995 tax returns that showed the celebrity real estate developer
had reported a loss that was big enough to have allowed him to avoid
paying personal taxes for a number of years.
Clinton and Trump will meet again in their second debate on Sunday
night, which will be in a town hall format, with the Nov. 8 election
fast approaching.
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At this point in 2012, the race was tighter between Democratic President
Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney: Obama led Romney by
less than 2 percentage points among likely voters in the Reuters/Ipsos
poll during the first week of October. The incumbent eventually won the
2012 election by nearly the same margin in the popular vote.
This year, however, both candidates appear to have a bigger opportunity
to shake up the race and improve their numbers in the final weeks, given
that a larger proportion of the electorate appears to be uncommitted.
When asked in the poll, roughly one out of every five likely voters
would not pick either major party candidate and instead selected options
such as "Other," "Wouldn't Vote" or "Refused." That was twice the number
of uncommitted voters as there were in the Reuters/Ipsos poll at the
same point in 2012.
Americans have expressed a dim view of both Clinton and Trump this year.
Both candidates are disliked by a majority of likely voters, according
to the poll, and an increasing number of women have expressed an
"unfavorable" view of both candidates this week.
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![](../images/100816pics/news_J15.jpg)
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speaks at a Women
for Hillary campaign finance event in Washington, DC, U.S. October
5, 2016. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
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In a separate poll that includes alternative-party candidates,
Clinton led the field by 5 percentage points. Among likely voters,
42 percent supported Clinton, 37 percent supported Trump, 8 percent
picked Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and 2 percent supported
Jill Stein of the Green Party.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted online in English in all 50
states. The poll included 1,695 people who were considered likely
voters due to their registration status, voting history and stated
intention to vote in the election. It has a credibility interval, a
measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points.
National opinion polls have differed this year in how they measure
support for Clinton and Trump. Some polls, like Reuters/Ipsos, try
to include only likely voters, while others include all registered
voters. The Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll also gathers responses every
day and reports results twice a week, so it often detects trends in
sentiment before most other polls.
An average of major opinion polls aggregated by RealClearPolitics
showed Clinton ahead of Trump by 5 percentage points on Friday.
(Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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