Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is leading his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton by five points nationally just 46 days until the election, according to a new Rasmussen poll released Thursday.
The poll shows Trump leading Clinton with 44 percent support among likely voters compared to her 39 percent. Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson stands at eight percent while the Green Party’s Jill Stein is far behind at two percent.
The right-leaning Rasmussen noted that both candidates maintain about the same level of support within their parties, but Trump enjoys a strong lead among those not affiliated with either party.
Trump (76 percent) and Clinton (75 percent) earn comparable support from voters in their own party. Fourteen percent of Democrats prefer Trump, while 10 percent of Republicans join former President George H.W. Bush in supporting Clinton. But Trump has a commanding 45 percent to 27 percent lead this week among voters not affiliated with either major political party.
This survey comes amid other polls nationwide showing a much closer race leading into Monday’s first presidential debate. The RealClearPolitics average puts Clinton ahead by a narrow 1.1-point margin. Trump has been trailing in most polls since the summer but has taken the lead in many key swing states in recent days such as Ohio and Florida.
Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight blog now puts Donald Trump’s chance of winning at 41.2 percent.