Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's lead over
Republican rival Donald Trump narrowed to less than 3 percentage points,
according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Friday, down from
nearly eight points on Monday.
About 42 percent of likely voters favored Clinton, to Trump's 39
percent, according to the July 31-Aug. 4 online poll of 1,154 likely
voters. The poll had a credibility interval of plus or minus 3
percentage points, meaning that the results suggest the race is roughly
even.
Among registered voters over the same period, Clinton held a lead of
five percentage points, down from eight percentage points on Monday,
according to the poll.
The reasons behind the shift were unclear.
Clinton had pulled well ahead of Trump on the heels of the Democratic
National Convention last week, where she became the first woman to
accept the US presidential nomination from a major political party.
Since then, Trump has engaged in a days-long feud with the family of
an American soldier killed in Iraq and squabbled with the Republican
leadership over his comments and leadership turmoil within his campaign.
Trump, in recent days, however, has sought to refocus. On Friday he
announced his economic policy advisory team, said he would deliver an
economic policy speech early next week, and was expected to endorse US
House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, the top US elected
Republican, who is seeking his 10th term in Congress.
An average of polls aggregated by Real Clear Politics showed Clinton
ahead of Trump by 6.8 percentage points on Friday, up from 3.9 on August
1.