Hillary Clinton has made clear inroads with women since the Democratic National Convention while Donald Trump is increasingly relying on white men for his base of support, which appears to be rapidly shrinking. Clinton has notably improved her standing with college-educated white women, leading Trump by 19 points with that group, according to the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll. Thanks to that gain, Clinton now trounces Trump 58-35 percent with women. Trump’s clear advantage is among white men without college degrees as he enjoys a 40-point lead with that group.
Nationally, Clinton leads Trump by eight points, double the four-point lead that Clinton had over Trump in July. Significantly, Clinton’s advantage over Trump remains the same even when third-party candidates are added to the mix.
Although Clinton seems to have been helped by the Democratic unity at the convention, she also appears to have benefited from Trump’s criticism of the parents of a captain in the U.S. Army, Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq. Almost two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the way Trump handled that controversy, including 59 percent of Republicans.
Separately, polls by CBS News show that Clinton is gaining ground in several key battleground states. Most notable of all is Virginia, a traditionally contested state that looks to be decidedly in Clinton’s column now considering she enjoys a 12-point lead there. The failure of Republicans to coalesce behind Trump could also cost him some traditional GOP strongholds. Arizona, for example, could become contested considering Trump only has a two-point lead in the state that Republicans usually win without breaking much of a sweat.
While many Republicans fret about Trump’s dwindling support, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani says everyone needs to relax. “First of all, 8 points down at this stage, of course you’d rather be ahead, but I remember George Bush the first being 16 points down to [Michael] Dukakis going into September. So let’s, you know, calm down,” Giuliani told ABC’s This Week. “Everyone should calm down about it. There’s certainly every opportunity for Trump to win this election.”
