Poll trouble rising for Clinton
A voter survey shows Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival, Donald Trump, in a technical tie in the key battleground state of Florida. In further bad news for Clinton, the poll was taken before the latest email scandal emerged.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally in Florida. Photo: AP/Andrew Harnik
According to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist survey, Clinton is leading Trump by 45 per cent to 44 percent, while Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Jill Stein garnered 5 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively.
Clinton’s advantage in the poll, however, is within the error margin of 3.1 per cent for the 990 registered voters surveyed, and within the 3.5 per cent error margin for the 779 people who said they are only “possible voters.”
The survey was conducted on October 25-26 and it does not take into account the potential impact of the recent announcement that the FBI is examining “new” emails that may have a bearing on its investigation into Clinton’s email scandal.
Clinton’s support has not changed when compared with the previous NBC/WSJ/Marist poll surveying Florida voters in early October.
Those who said they intend to vote for Trump, however, rose from 42 per cent to 44 per cent.
If the two minority candidates are excluded, the survey gives both Clinton and Trump 46 per cent.
Winning Florida, with its 29 electoral votes, would be a key victory for either Clinton or Trump and could decide the election.
Meanwhile, the FBI has secured a warrant to examine newly discovered emails related to Clinton’s private server.
The warrant will allow the FBI to examine the emails to see if they are relevant to its probe of the private email server used for government work by Clinton while she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.
Campaigning in Florida, Clinton vowed she wouldnt be “knocked off course” in the election’s final days.
“I’m not stopping now, we’re just getting warmed up,” Clinton declared during a packed rally with gay and lesbian supporters. “We’re not going to be distracted, no matter what our opponents throw at us.”
Trump campaigned in Las Vegas at a casino owned by billionaire GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson and accused the Justice Department, without offering evidence, of trying to protect Clinton following the FBI’s discovery of new emails that could be related to its investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server.
“Hillary has nobody but herself to blame for her mounting legal problems,” Trump said during a rally.
Clinton’s advisers and fellow Democrats pressured FBI Director James Comey anew to release more details about the emails, including whether Comey had even reviewed them himself. The message was aimed at gathering more information about what the bureau is seeking from a computer that appears to belong to disgraced former New York Representative Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of Huma Abedin, one of Clinton’s closest advisers.
Tim Kaine, Clinton’s running mate, said Comey owed it to the public to be more forthcoming about the emails under review by the FBI with only nine days remaining before the November 8 election.
Calling Comey’s announcement “extremely puzzling,” Kaine said that if Comey “hasn’t seen the emails, I mean they need to make that completely plain.”
Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, said Comey’s handling of the matter was “inappropriate.”
Comey’s actions have roiled the White House race, energising Trump as polls had showed him sliding and unnerving Democrats worried about the presidency and down-ballot congressional races.
In a letter to Congress on Friday, Comey said the FBI had recently come upon new emails while pursuing an unrelated case and was reviewing whether they were classified.
The FBI is looking into whether there was classified information on a device belonging to Weiner. Federal authorities in New York and North Carolina are investigating online communications between Weiner and a 15-year-old girl.
The developments prompted Trump to quip to his Las Vegas supporters, “We never thought we were going to say ‘thank you’ to Anthony Weiner,” he said.
AP