IT’S less than five weeks to go before the citizens of America cast their votes to choose who will be the 45th President of the United States.
As D-Day approaches, both Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump, along with their surrogates, are continuing to make their cases as to why Clinton or Trump should be elected president. We’re seeing debates, campaign sorties, ads and good old face-to-face interactions with voters, especially in key battleground states which can either swing red or blue and decide who will win the race to the White House.
While both candidates have broken records as the nominees with the least favorability ratings among registered voters and are more motivated by fear and disdain that the nominee of the other party might win in November, they both have their loyal followers who will vote for them no matter how they may fumble and misspeak or be fact checked for any lies and misrepresentations just to get the electorates’ votes.
What will be critical then is who will win over the independent and undecided voters who do not subscribe to the ideologies of each party.
After the first debate, polls revealed that Hillary Clinton has expanded her lead over Donald Trump among likely voters.
According to the latest CNN-ORC national poll, Clinton is now five points ahead of Trump, 47 to 42.
The Democratic nominee has also gained more support among independents, 44 percent versus Trump’s 37 percent.
The same poll also reveals that Clinton has been able to shrink Trump’s lead among male voters. His 22-point lead has now come down to 5 points.
In the latest Quinnipiac University survey in the battleground state of Florida, Clinton now leads by five points. Clinton also leads in North Carolina at 49 percent versus Trump’s 46, and in Pennsylvania, 48 percent to Trump’s 43 percent.
But the margin is not that big. The next debate and more surprising headlines may sway the result one way or the other. Abangan!
* * *
Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
