National poll: Clinton leads Trump, but gap narrowing

Hillary Clinton led Donald Trump by 5 points in a Quinnipiac University national poll released Wednesday. But that margin has been chopped in half since the last time the poll was released in August.

Clinton was ahead of Trump 48%-43% in a head-to-head matchup with likely voters nationally.

In a survey released in late August, Clinton had 51% and Trump was at 41%.

When third-party candidates were included in Wednesday’s poll, Clinton and Trump were separated by just 2 points, which is within the margin of error. Clinton had 41%, Trump had 39%, Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson had 13%, and the Green Party’s Jill Stein came in at 4%.

Trump led with white voters by 10 points (51%-41%), while Clinton was ahead with non-white voters 66%-19%.

Trump led with men 50%-41%, while Clinton led with female voters 54%-36%.

The poll was conducted Sept. 8-13, with part of the poll overlapping with some of the worst days of Clinton’s campaign. She faced criticism after calling “half” of Trump’s supporters “deplorable” Friday, and she had a health episode on Sunday caused by previously undisclosed pneumonia.

The telephone poll included 960 likely voters nationwide and had a margin of error of 3.2 points.