A new poll suggests that Donald Trump is within three points of Hillary Clinton in a potential general election contest.
The results from a bipartisan George Washington University Battleground Poll indicating a virtual dead heat between the two front-runners run seem counter to recent polling data that suggests an uphill climb for the brash New York businessman, at least right now, six months out from Election Day.
The data, which may or may not be an outlier, also revealed that almost 90 percent of the voters are following developments in the presidential sweepstakes in the survey of 1,000 registered voters across the country, although many of them described the heated campaign rhetoric as "repulsive."
Parenthetically, in past elections, it has often been pointed out that results can differ substantially when the screening is derived from likely voters rather than registered voters. Also, with surveys all over the map and differences in methodology, some pollsters could be orchestrating findings that fit within preconceived ideological notions or outcomes or to the benefit of which entity is footing the bill for the data collection.
Rightly or wrongly, Democrats, the #neverTrump GOP establishment, pro-Ted Cruz conservative journalists, and others seem to have convinced themselves -- at least based on their public commentary -- that Trump, who is the presumptive Republican nominee, can't win against Democrat Clinton, who is currently favored to win her party's nomination for president.
"In a head-to-head matchup of each party's frontrunner, Ms. Clinton leads Mr. Trump by only 3 percentage points nationally (46 to 43; 11 percent undecided). Comparatively, Mr. Sanders fares slightly better against Mr. Trump (51/40/10)," the GW poll claimed, however.
As with other polling, Trump, Clinton, and Ted Cruz continue to be very unpopular, based on the GW findings, with real estate mogul clocking in at 65 percent unfavorability to Clinton's 56 percent and Cruz's 55 percent. About two-thirds of those surveyed added that the country is heading in the wrong direction, with nearly three-fourths citing the down economy as their primary concern.
