Trump gaining as Presidential Polls grow tighter

In the U.S. presidential race, a new CNN-ORC poll shows Republican Donald Trump with a two-point (45-43) lead over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Clinton continues to lead in most surveys, but the CNN poll is the latest of several recent national and state polls that indicate the race for the White House is tightening with about two months to go until Election Day.

Republican Donald Trump recently discussed foreign policy in Virginia but could not resist highlighting the good news in the latest poll.

“CNN came out with a big poll. Their big poll came out today that Trump is winning. It’s good psychology. I know that for a fact because people that didn’t call me yesterday, they are calling me today. So that’s the way life works, right?” said Trump.

Democrat Hillary Clinton still leads in most national polls and in most of the key battleground states where both campaigns will focus over these final two months.

Clinton went after Trump during a rally in Florida.

“And he demeans Muslims and attacks a Gold Star family whose son died in action in Iraq. That’s not who we are. So yes, we have a lot of plans, but we also have values, my friends, and we are going to stand up for American values!” said Clinton.

The race is tightening in part because Clinton’s weaknesses are in the spotlight, said expert Stephen Wayne.

“There are a number of people who don’t think she is honest and trustworthy. She seems to be a very authentic (traditional) politician in an anti-politician age,” said Wayne.

But Trump also suffers from high disapproval ratings, said Gallup pollster Frank Newport.

“It’s troublesome for both people. I think the Hillary Clinton campaign thinks about it a lot, how can we change her image? But that is hard to do, you know. It is kind of baked-in at this point,” said Newport.

Clinton hopes to hold on to what was a big lead in the polls after the party conventions, helped in part by a number of Trump controversies, said analyst Jeremy Mayer.

“It is possible that Donald Trump will win this race. But in order to do so he will he will have to come back from a larger deficit than any presidential candidate in the modern era of polling. No one has come back as far and as quickly as he now needs to do,” said Mayer.

Trump and Clinton are already preparing for the next major event in the race—the first presidential debate, set for September 26th.