There’s a great tweet going around right now about the differences between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton’s contrasting weeks.
https://twitter.com/Scott_Gilmore/status/775396558724558848
No matter how many real losses are in Trump’s column, perception is reality and now two incidents (coughing and fainting) have put Clinton’s fitness for office into question (she’s (probably) fine). Meanwhile, Trump’s continued being himself, only in a more subdued, restrained way, and it’s giving him momentum heading into the first debate.
The most recent poll by Bloomberg Politics, which was conducted from Friday through Monday (so it includes people aware of Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment and her fainting spell), puts Trump firmly up in Ohio.
The Republican nominee leads Clinton 48 percent to 43 percent among likely voters in a two-way contest and 44 percent to 39 percent when third-party candidates are included.
As with the right after Labor Day polls, Trump continues to see strong support with independents.
Said one resident, Darren Roberts, who considers himself independent, “I’m tired of career politicians being in office and nothing’s ever changed. I don’t like all of his policies, but I really don’t like Hillary Clinton’s.”
Voters who have experienced economic hardship recently are leaning much more toward Trump, as the poll found that people who’d recently lost a job or knew someone who did went 51% for Trump, with 38% voting Clinton.
Ohio is shaping up to be less critical this election than past, with previous swing states like Pennslyvania and Virginia firmly leaning toward Clinton, but if attitudes like that are pervasive in hard-hit Rust Belt states, you could (maybe) see Michigan start to move Trump’s way, although the latest polls have Clinton up between 5-6 point there.
[Via Bloomberg]