Megyn Kelly looks at Donald Trump's 'huge' gains in the electoral map with Larry Sabato

Megyn Kelly and Larry Sabato look at the shifting electoral map

(Image credit: Fox News/YouTube)

Donald Trump has significantly narrowed Hillary Clinton's lead in the polls over the past two weeks, and election prognosticator Larry Sabato, at the University of Virginia, has made some big changes to his electoral map, Megyn Kelly said on Tuesday's Kelly File. After months of stasis, Sabato just moved "12 states — 12 states! — over further to the right, including two outright flips: Ohio and Iowa went from leaning Democrat to leaning Republican," Kelly said. She asked Sabato to explain the "huge" shift, and Sabato said he's just responding to the data.

Clinton's "had a couple of rotten weeks, and either she's fallen back, depending on the state, or Donald Trump has gone up, or some people think Democrats just don't want to respond to the polls," Sabato said. "But very clearly, the polls had changed," and he argued that the big story is Florida, Nevada, and North Carolina switching to toss-ups. Kelly asked if it's true that Clinton seems to being doing better this week than last week, and if so, why?

"I think it's probably returning to the prior norm, except for one big thing, Megyn," Sabato said: "One-hundred million people are going to watch this debate on Monday night, more than have watched any debate in American history. So that's a reset button, potentially, depending on what happens, and there isn't a soul in the country who knows what's going to happen." Kelly asked for predictions, and Sabato demurred: "People mainly tune into debates to cheer for their side, but never, ever underestimate the power of any candidate to commit a terrible gaffe that does cause the numbers to shift." Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.