Hillary Clinton heads into debate with solid 9-point lead over Donald Trump


Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are meeting together on stage for the last time this election Wednesday night, and Trump is heading into the final debate with a significant deficit in the polls. In a Bloomberg Politics poll released Wednesday morning, Clinton has opened up a 9-point lead over Trump among likely voters, 50 percent to 41 percent in a two-way race, or 47 percent to 38 percent in a four-way contest including Gary Johnson (8 percent) and Jill Stein (3 percent). In the last Bloomberg Politics poll in September, Clinton and Trump were tied at 46 percent apiece.
"This poll shows movement toward Clinton with all the right groups it takes to win — including men and those without a college degree," says pollster J. Ann Selzer, who conducted the poll. "Their alignment with Clinton is a formidable change in the algebra." In the new poll, Clinton is beating Trump among men in a two-way race, 46 percent to 44 percent, and among voters with no college education, 48 percent to 44 percent, and she has a 17-point lead among female voters and a 1-point lead among white women.
"The race sure looks like it's a solid Clinton win, but Trump has a few advantages in enthusiasm and support," Selzer added, pointing to the sole bright spot for Trump. Trump's favorability rating is -25, while Clinton's is -5, and 52 percent majority of voters say they view Trump very unfavorably. The poll was conducted Oct. 14-17 among 1,006 likely voters and has a margin of error of ±3.1 percentage points.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A Fox News poll released Tuesday night was slightly better for Trump — he is trailing Clinton by just 6 points among likely voters, 45 percent to 39 percent in a four-way race (or 49 percent to 42 percent in a two-way race). That's a rise of 1 point for Trump from the last survey, Brett Baier noted on Tuesday night, but on the state level, "our latest electoral scorecard does not paint a pretty picture for Donald Trump, with the understanding, of course, that there is time for this map to change." Watch. Peter Weber
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
Zohran Mamdani: the young progressive likely to be New York City's next mayor
In The Spotlight The policies and experience that led to his meteoric rise
-
The best film reboots of all time
The Week Recommends Creativity and imagination are often required to breathe fresh life into old material
-
'More must be done'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
The last words and final moments of 40 presidents
The Explainer Some are eloquent quotes worthy of the holders of the highest office in the nation, and others... aren't
-
Senate advances GOP bill that costs more, cuts more
Speed Read The bill would make giant cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, leaving 11.8 million fewer people with health coverage
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump
-
Trump embraces NATO after budget vow, charm offensive
Speed Read The president reversed course on his longstanding skepticism of the trans-Atlantic military alliance
-
Trump judge pick told DOJ to defy courts, lawyer says
Speed Read Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official nominated by Trump for a lifetime seat, stands accused of encouraging government lawyers to mislead the courts and defy judicial orders