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Only A Third Of Americans Think Trump’s Travel Ban Will Make Them Safer

Only A Third Of Americans Think Trump’s Travel Ban Will Make Them Safer

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Imposing a temporary travel ban on citizens from seven Muslim countries, President Donald Trump said the move would help protect the United States from terrorism. But less than one-third of Americans believe the move makes them “more safe,” according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday.

The Jan. 30-31 poll found roughly one in two Americans backed the ban, which also suspends admission of all refugees for 120 days, although there were sharp divisions along party lines.

Trump has pushed back against critics who say the travel ban targets Muslims. He says the “extreme vetting” is necessary to protect the country and its borders.

“This is not about religion,” Trump said in a statement after announcing the travel ban on Friday. “This is about terror and keeping our country safe.”

In the Reuters/Ipsos poll some 31 percent of people said the ban made them feel “more safe,” while 26 percent said it made them feel “less safe.” Another 33 percent said it would not make any difference and the rest said they don’t know.

Trump’s executive order blocked citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen and placed an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees.

Some Republican lawmakers criticized Trump’s order and said it could backfire by giving terrorist organizations a new recruitment message.

“This executive order sends a signal, intended or not, that America does not want Muslims coming into our country,” senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said in a joint statement.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 49 percent of Americans agreed with the order and 41 percent disagreed. Some 53 percent of Democrats said they “strongly disagree” with Trump’s action while 51 percent of Republicans said they “strongly agree.”

Democrats were more than three times as likely as Republicans to say that the “U.S. should continue to take in immigrants and refugees,” and Republicans were more than three times as likely as Democrats to agree that “banning people from Muslim countries is necessary to prevent terrorism.”

Cheryl Hoffman, 46, of Sumerduck, Virginia said she was thrilled that Trump ordered the ban.

“I understand that the country was founded on immigrants,” said Hoffman, who participated in the poll. “Please, I get that. But I’m worried that refugees are coming in and being supported by my tax dollars.”

Another poll respondent, Veronica Buetel, 57, of Green, Ohio felt just the opposite: “Yes, we do live in scary times, but there are other, better ways to root out terrorism.”

Westy Egmont, director of the Immigrant Integration Lab at Boston College, said Americans have grown increasingly hostile toward refugees and immigrants as the influx has shifted from Eastern Europeans to people from countries like Iraq, Somalia, and Afghanistan.

“The rise of those numbers, as relatively small as they are, have gathered just enough attention to set off a small reaction from people who are genuinely uncomfortable with the diversity around them,” Egmont said.

Most Americans, however, don’t think the country should show a preference for Christian refugees, as Trump has suggested. Some 56 percent, including 72 percent of Democrats and 45 percent of Republicans, disagreed that the country should “welcome Christian refugees, but not Muslim ones.”

On Tuesday, the Trump administration sought to clarify that citizens of U.S. ally Israel who were born in Arab countries would be allowed into the United States.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English in all 50 states. It gathered poll responses from 1,201 people including 453 Democrats and 478 Republicans. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points for the entire sample and 5 percentage points for the Democrats and the Republicans.

(Reporting by Chris Kahn, editing by Ross Colvin)

IMAGE: People participate in a protest against President Donald Trump’s travel ban at Columbia University in New York City, U.S. January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith

Unlike Trump, Americans Want Strong Environmental Regulator

Unlike Trump, Americans Want Strong Environmental Regulator

NEW YORK (Reuters) – More than 60 percent of Americans would like to see the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s powers preserved or strengthened under incoming President Donald Trump, and the drilling of oil on public lands to hold steady or drop, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday.

The results could foretell stronger-than-expected public opposition to Trump’s plans to boost energy development by slashing environmental regulations, an agenda shared by some of his top Cabinet picks slated for Senate confirmation hearings later this week. Trump takes office on Friday.

Some 39 percent of Americans would like to see the EPA, the nation’s top environmental regulator, “strengthened or expanded,” while another 22 percent hope for it to “remain the same,” according to the poll. Just 19 percent said they would like to see the agency “weakened or eliminated” and the rest said they “don’t know.”

Among Republicans, 47 percent wish for the EPA either to “remain the same” or be “strengthened or expanded,” while 35 percent want it “weakened or eliminated”.

The online poll of 9,935 people was conducted Dec. 16 to Jan. 12 and has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 1.1 percentage points.

“Trump is a businessman, and that’s all he thinks about … what will make money,” said Terry Cox, a 61-year-old resident of Tennessee who voted for the New York real estate mogul in November’s election. “But I’m hopeful there’s a limit to what he can do when it comes to weakening protections for wildlife and the environment.”

A Trump transition team official declined to comment.

Trump campaigned on a promise to drastically reduce environmental regulations in order to create jobs and pave the way for more oil, gas, and coal development. He has said he would refocus the EPA on its core mission to protect air and water quality.

He also accused the agency of using “totalitarian tactics” to enforce its regulations under President Barack Obama, who had made the EPA central to his broader effort to combat global climate change by cutting carbon emissions.

According to the Reuters/Ipsos poll, just over 60 percent of Americans think it would be wrong to weaken wildlife protections and air and water regulations to bolster the energy industry, while they were nearly evenly split on whether carbon emissions should be softened to help the industry.

The poll also showed that 39 percent of Americans want to see a decrease in coal mining and oil drilling on U.S. federal lands in the coming years, while 23 percent hope for it to stay the same. Just 22 percent said they wanted to see an increase, and the rest said they do not know.

The U.S. government holds title to about 500 million acres of land across the country, including national parks and forests, wildlife refuges and tribal territories, overlaying billions of barrels of oil and vast quantities of natural gas, coal, and uranium. Trump has promised to boost industry access to these reserves.

Trump nominated Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, a climate change skeptic who has repeatedly sued the EPA over its regulations, to head the agency. Pruitt is scheduled for Senate hearings on Wednesday, where lawmakers are expected to ask him about his ties to the energy industry.

Trump also nominated U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke of Montana, an avid outdoorsman and former Navy SEAL commander who advocates for more coal mining on federal lands, to run the Department of the Interior that oversees public lands. Zinke will face Senate questions on Tuesday.

And Trump chose former Texas Governor Rick Perry to head the Department of Energy, a move that would put him in charge of the agency he proposed eliminating during his failed bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Perry will be questioned on Thursday.

(Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

IMAGE: Steam rises from the cooling towers of the coal power plant of RWE, one of Europe’s biggest electricity and gas companies in Niederaussem, north-west of Cologne, Germany. Picture taken March 3, 2016. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

Reuters/Ipsos Poll: More Americans Consider Russia A Threat Post-Election

Reuters/Ipsos Poll: More Americans Consider Russia A Threat Post-Election

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Americans are more concerned than they were before the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign began about the potential threat Russia poses to the country, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Friday.

The Jan. 9-12 survey found that 82 percent of American adults, including 84 percent of Democrats and 82 percent of Republicans, described Russia as a general “threat” to the United States. That’s up from 76 percent in March 2015 when the same questions were asked.

The increased concern comes after a brutal election season during which Democrats and others raised questions about President-elect Donald Trump’s financial ties to Russia and the U.S. intelligence community accused Russia of engaging in cyber attacks during the election.

Trump, who has repeatedly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as a strong leader and signaled during his campaign that he might take a softer line in dealing with Moscow, only recently accepted that Russia committed the hacks after receiving detailed briefings from intelligence officials.

Trump initially criticized the findings, saying the culprit could be China or “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds.”

The poll asked people to rate Russia and a slew of other countries on a 5-point scale ranging from “no threat” to “imminent threat.” It found that Americans were more likely to label Russia a threat than they were Iran, Syria, China, Saudi Arabia, Cuba or Yemen. Only North Korea ranked higher, with 86 percent of Americans labeling it as a threat.

Some 25 percent of Americans gave Russia the highest concern, labeling it an “imminent threat.”

“Russia is back to the old days of the Cold War,” said Oneita Wilkins, 69, a Republican who lives in a suburb of New Orleans, who rated Russia an “imminent threat.”

Wilkins did not vote in the election. She said she did not trust Trump or Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and chose to not vote for the first time in more than 40 years.

The latest reports about Russian hacking lowered her opinion of Trump even further. “Trump doesn’t have any experience with other countries,” Wilkins said. “I have a feeling that he’ll be easily influenced by Putin.”

Trump, earlier this week in his first news conference since the election, defended his goal of better ties with Putin, saying, “If Putin likes Donald Trump, I consider that an asset, not a liability.”

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English in all 50 states. It included 1,169 American adults, including 490 Democrats and 475 Republicans. The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points for the entire sample and 5 percentage points for Republicans and Democrats.

(Reporting by Chris Kahn; Editing by Leslie Adler)

IMAGE: Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with military officials at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi, Russia, May 13, 2016. Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/Kremlin via Reuters

Reuters/Ipsos Poll: Hillary Clinton Still Leads Donald Trump

Reuters/Ipsos Poll: Hillary Clinton Still Leads Donald Trump

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Democrat Hillary Clinton’s lead in the U.S. presidential race has narrowed slightly since the FBI said late last week it was reviewing new emails in its investigation of the former secretary of state, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Monday.

Clinton had a 5 percentage point lead over Republican rival Donald Trump, according to the Oct. 26-30 survey, down from 6 percentage points posted in the five-day tracking poll last Thursday.

Other polls have also shown Clinton’s lead slipping over the weekend. Real Clear Politics, which averages the results of most major polls, shows that Clinton’s lead has declined from 4.6 points on Friday to 2.5 points on Monday.

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey told Congress in a letter made public on Friday that his agency was looking into new emails that may be connected to Clinton, who had been probed by the FBI over her use of a private server and how she handled classified information while America’s top diplomat.

The FBI has revealed very little to the public about the new emails under investigation, except that they were uncovered during an unrelated investigation into the estranged husband of a top Clinton aide.

In July, Comey concluded that Clinton and her staff were “extremely careless” with their handling of classified information, but that there was not enough evidence to bring criminal charges. On Friday, Comey told Congress, “We don’t know the significance of this newly discovered collection of emails.”

According to the poll, 44 percent of likely voters said they would support Clinton, while 39 percent said they would support Trump. In a separate poll that included alternative-party candidates, 43 percent supported Clinton, while 37 percent supported Trump, 6 percent supported Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and 1 percent supported Jill Stein of the Green Party.

The poll determines likely voters according to a number of factors including voting history, registration status and stated intention to vote. It assumes that 60 percent of eligible Americans will vote. The result of the 2016 election will vary greatly depending on how many voters actually cast a ballot.

Currently, Clinton leads Trump in both high and low turnout scenarios, according to the latest poll. Her advantage holds at 5 points if 55 percent of eligible voters participate, and it rises to 6 points if 70 percent of Americans cast a ballot.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English in all 50 states. It included 1,264 people who were considered likely voters under the assumption that 60 percent of eligible voters would participate. The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points.

(Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Leslie Adler)

IMAGE: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton addresses the Planned Parenthood Action Fund in Washington, U.S. June 10, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron 

Poll: Clinton Leads By 7 Points As Trump Faces Groping Allegations

Poll: Clinton Leads By 7 Points As Trump Faces Groping Allegations

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton leads rival Donald Trump by seven percentage points, according to a Reuters/Ipsos national opinion poll taken as the Republican nominee fought off accusations of groping women.

The Oct. 7-13 poll released on Friday shows that 44 percent of likely voters support Clinton while 37 percent back Trump.

That was little changed from Tuesday when the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Trump trailing by eight points.

Two more women came forward on Friday with allegations that Trump had groped them, including a contestant on his reality show, “The Apprentice,” as the businessman said accusations of sexual misconduct against him were part of a plot to discredit him only weeks from the election.

Trump‘s campaign for the Nov. 8 election has been scrambling to recover from the release a week ago of a 2005 video in which he bragged about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances

Support for Clinton has been mostly rising in the seven-day tracking poll since the last week of August, when the candidates were drawing about the same level of support.

Since then, Clinton and Trump have faced each other in two heavily watched debates — contests that Americans believe Clinton won, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Former secretary of state Clinton also leads the field in a separate poll question that includes alternative-party candidates. Among likely voters, 44 percent back Clinton, 37 percent supportTrump, six percent favor Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and two percent support Jill Stein of the Green Party.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted online in English in all 50 states. The most recent survey includes 2,889 people who are considered likely voters given their registration status, voting history and stated intention to vote. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of two percentage points.

National opinion polls have measured support for the candidates in different ways this year, yet most agree that Clinton is leading and that her advantage has strengthened as the election approaches. RealClearPolitics web site, which tracks most major opinion polls, shows Clinton ahead of Trump by an average of seven percentage points.

(Editing by Alistair Bell)

Photo: A combination photo shows Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump (L) in Palm Beach, Florida and Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (R) in Miami, Florida at their respective Super Tuesday primaries campaign events on March 1, 2016. REUTERS/Scott Audette (L), Javier Galeano (R)

Poll: Trump Trails Clinton By 8 points After Tape Scandal, Debate

Poll: Trump Trails Clinton By 8 points After Tape Scandal, Debate

By Chris Kahn

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Donald Trump has fallen further behind Hillary Clinton and now trails her by 8 points among likely voters, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll, with 1 in 5 Republicans saying his vulgar comments about groping women disqualify him from the presidency.

The national tracking poll was launched after Sunday night’s second presidential debate, where Trump was pressed to explain his comments in a 2005 videotape about grabbing women’s genitalia. He described the remarks, which first surfaced on Friday, as “locker room” banter and apologized to Americans.

The poll released on Tuesday showed Clinton, the Democratic nominee, had increased her lead over Trump, the Republican nominee, to 8 percentage points on Monday from 5 points last week.

When asked to pick between the two major-party candidates, 45 percent of likely voters said they supported Clinton while 37 percent supported Trump. Another 18 percent said they would not support either candidate.

Trump was under pressure during Sunday’s debate to restore confidence in his struggling campaign after dozens of lawmakers repudiated him over the weekend. He hammered Clinton’s handling of classified information while serving as secretary of state and referred to her as “the devil.” At one point, he said he would jail Clinton if he were president.

Among those who said they watched at least portions of the debate, 53 percent said Clinton won while 32 percent said Trump won. The results fell along partisan lines, however: 82 percent of Democrats felt Clinton won, while 68 percent of Republicans felt that Trump won.

Among likely voters who watched the debate, 48 percent said they supported Clinton while 38 percent supported Trump.

‘LOCKER ROOM TALK’

In the 2005 Access Hollywood video Trump boasted about making unwanted sexual advances toward women. “When you’re a star they let you do it,” he is heard saying.

Some 61 percent of those polled said that “lots of men” occasionally engage in similar conversations, and 46 percent, a plurality, said it was unfair to judge someone on conversations “that they did not intend for anyone else to hear.”

Most of those polled said they believe Trump is a sexist, but they were split on whether his comments disqualify him from being president. Some 42 percent of American adults, including 19 percent of registered Republicans, said Trump’s comments disqualified him, while 43 percent said they did not.

Among Republicans, 58 percent said they want Trump to remain atop their party’s ticket, and 68 percent said the Republican leadership should stand by him.

The video doesn’t appear to have worsened Trump’s standing among women, who mostly had a low opinion of him already, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling over the past 12 months.

When asked to pick between the two candidates, about 44 percent of women chose Clinton while 29 percent selected Trump – roughly the same proportion as measured in polls conducted before the weekend.

Trump, however, appears to be shedding support among evangelicals, who are usually a wellspring of support for Republican presidential candidates. Monday’s poll showed that Trump had only a 1-point edge over Clinton among people who identified as evangelicals. That’s down from a 12-point advantage for Trump in July.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted online in English in all 50 states. The poll of 2,386 American adults included 1,839 people who watched the debates, 1,605 people who were considered likely voters due to their registration status, voting history and stated intention to vote in the election. Among the likely voters, the poll counted 798 Democrats and 586 Republicans.

The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 2 percentage points for the entire group, 3 points for likely voters and the debate watchers, 4 points for Democrats and 5 points for Republicans.

National opinion polls have measured support for the candidates in different ways this year, yet most agree that Clinton is leading and that her advantage has strengthened as the general election approaches.

RealClearPolitics, which tracks most major opinion polls, shows Clinton ahead of Trump by an average of 7 percentage points, and that her lead has grown since the middle of September.

(Reporting by Chris Kahn, editing by Ross Colvin)

Hillary Clinton speaks to children at Overtown Youth Center in Miami, Florida, U.S. October 11, 2016. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Reuters/Ipsos Poll: Clinton Leads Trump By 5 Points In Presidential Race

Reuters/Ipsos Poll: Clinton Leads Trump By 5 Points In Presidential Race

By Chris Kahn

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton leads Republican rival Donald Trump by 5 percentage points among likely voters, roughly the same advantage she has held over the past several weeks, according to the Reuters/Ipsos national tracking poll released Friday.

The Sept. 30-Oct. 6 opinion poll showed that 43 percent of likely voters supported Clinton while 38 percent supported Trump. Clinton has consistently led Trump by 4-6 points in every weekly poll since the beginning of September.

During this period, the candidates faced off in the most-watched presidential debate in history – a matchup that a majority of Americans believed Clinton won. The New York Times also released portions of Trump’s 1995 tax returns that showed the celebrity real estate developer had reported a loss that was big enough to have allowed him to avoid paying personal taxes for a number of years.

Clinton and Trump will meet again in their second debate on Sunday night, which will be in a town hall format, with the Nov. 8 election fast approaching.

At this point in 2012, the race was tighter between Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney: Obama led Romney by less than 2 percentage points among likely voters in the Reuters/Ipsos poll during the first week of October. The incumbent eventually won the 2012 election by nearly the same margin in the popular vote.

This year, however, both candidates appear to have a bigger opportunity to shake up the race and improve their numbers in the final weeks, given that a larger proportion of the electorate appears to be uncommitted.

When asked in the poll, roughly one out of every five likely voters would not pick either major party candidate and instead selected options such as “Other,” “Wouldn’t Vote” or “Refused.” That was twice the number of uncommitted voters as there were in the Reuters/Ipsos poll at the same point in 2012.

Americans have expressed a dim view of both Clinton and Trump this year. Both candidates are disliked by a majority of likely voters, according to the poll, and an increasing number of women have expressed an “unfavorable” view of both candidates this week.

In a separate poll that includes alternative-party candidates, Clinton led the field by 5 percentage points. Among likely voters, 42 percent supported Clinton, 37 percent supported Trump, 8 percent picked Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and 2 percent supported Jill Stein of the Green Party.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted online in English in all 50 states. The poll included 1,695 people who were considered likely voters due to their registration status, voting history and stated intention to vote in the election. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points.

National opinion polls have differed this year in how they measure support for Clinton and Trump. Some polls, like Reuters/Ipsos, try to include only likely voters, while others include all registered voters. The Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll also gathers responses every day and reports results twice a week, so it often detects trends in sentiment before most other polls.

An average of major opinion polls aggregated by RealClearPolitics showed Clinton ahead of Trump by 5 percentage points on Friday.

(Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Poll: Paying No Income Taxes Is ‘Selfish’ And ‘Unpatriotic’ But ‘Smart’

Poll: Paying No Income Taxes Is ‘Selfish’ And ‘Unpatriotic’ But ‘Smart’

By Chris Kahn

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump says paying no income tax would make him “smart.” While nearly half of Americans agree with him, more people think it is “selfish,” and “unpatriotic,” according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday.

Some 67 percent of Americans said it is “selfish” for a presidential candidate to pay no taxes, while 61 percent said it is “unpatriotic,” according to the poll, which allowed respondents to pick more than one adjective to describe paying no taxes.

At the same time, the results showed some respect for a candidate who can figure out how to reduce their tax bill. Some 46 percent of Americans, including 35 percent of Democrats and 62 percent of Republicans, thought a presidential candidate who pays no taxes is “smart.”

Trump’s taxes have become a big campaign issue after the New York Times released a portion of his 1995 tax returns last week and estimated that Trump likely paid no taxes for a number of years. The celebrity real estate developer, who is the first presidential candidate in decades to refuse to release his full tax returns, didn’t deny the report. He later said that he had “brilliantly used” U.S. tax rules to his advantage.

During the first presidential debate with his rival Democrat Hillary Clinton last month, Trump responded to Clinton’s allegation that he paid no federal taxes by saying that would make him “smart.”

“What is he trying to say: that those of us who pay taxes aren’t intelligent?” said poll respondent Yonna McNerney, 41, of Denver. “I started working at the age of 16, and I’ve always paid taxes,” she said. “Not paying taxes, I don’t think that’s acceptable.”

McNerney, a mother of three who works at a telecommunications company, remains uncommitted in the race and said Trump’s comments about taxes haven’t changed her mind one way or the other.

April St. Aoro, 46, who works for a manufacturing firm near St. Cloud, Minnesota, was more understanding of Trump’s point of view, though she also remains undecided in the race.

“I think all of us are trying to pay as little taxes as possible,” St. Aoro said.

Respondents were slightly less critical when asked to describe a private citizen paying no taxes.

Some 64 percent agreed it was “selfish,” while just over half agreed it was “unpatriotic.” Some 50 percent, including 37 percent of Democrats and 67 percent of Republicans, agreed that it was “smart.”

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English in all 50 states. Respondents were asked what they thought of “a private citizen who has found a way to pay no income taxes,” and given the choice to agree or disagree to the words “smart,” “selfish,” and “unpatriotic.”

They were then asked the same set of questions about a presidential candidate.

The Sept. 28-Oct. 3 poll was part of a larger national tracking poll that tracks public opinion every day. It included 1,948 American adults, including 893 Democrats and 635 Republicans. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points for the entire sample, 4 percentage points for Democrats only and 5 percentage points for Republicans.

Reuters/Ipsos Poll: Clinton Now Leads Trump By 5 Points

Reuters/Ipsos Poll: Clinton Now Leads Trump By 5 Points

By Chris Kahn

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Democrat Hillary Clinton has a five percentage point lead over Republican Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential race, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Friday, roughly the same advantage she has held all month.

The survey result showed little movement following Monday night’s presidential debate, the first of three debates before the Nov. 8 election.

The Sept. 23-29 national tracking poll showed that likely voters support Clinton over Trump by 43 percent to 38 percent, while another 19 percent said they would not pick either candidate.

Clinton has mostly led Trump in the poll this year, and her level of support has been 4-5 percentage points higher than Trump’s in each of the last four weeks.

In a separate poll that included alternative party candidates, Clinton led the field by 4 percentage points. Among likely voters, 42 percent supported Clinton, 38 percent supported Trump, 7 percent supported Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and 3 percent supported Jill Stein of the Green Party.

Monday’s debate was the most watched presidential debate in U.S. history, with an estimated 84 million people tuning in for the 90-minute exchange. Some 56 percent of Americans adults who watched the debate said Clinton won, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday.

Voters appeared to be warming up to both candidates in Friday’s poll. Some 48 percent of likely voters said they had an overall favorable view of Clinton, compared with 45 percent in the previous week, while 46 percent said they had a favorable view of Trump, up from 44 percent the week before.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted online in English in all 50 states. The poll included 2,501 people who were considered likely voters due to their registration status, voting history and stated intention to vote in the election. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 2 percentage points.

National opinion polls have differed this year in how they measure support for Clinton and Trump. Some polls, like Reuters/Ipsos, try to include only likely voters, while others include all registered voters. The Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll also gathers responses every day and reports results twice a week, so it often detects trends in sentiment before most other polls.

An average of major opinion polls aggregated by RealClearPolitics showed Clinton ahead of Trump by 2.9 percentage points on Friday, or 47.3 points to 44.4, slightly lower than the previous margin of 3 points on Wednesday, but well up from 0.9 point on Sept. 19.

Most Americans Say Clinton Won First Debate

Most Americans Say Clinton Won First Debate

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A majority of Americans say Democrat Hillary Clinton won Monday night’s presidential debate, but her performance doesn’t appear to have boosted her level of support among likely voters, according to a Reuters/Ipsos national tracking poll released on Wednesday.

The online poll, which gathered responses from more than 2,000 people on Tuesday, found that 56 percent of American adults felt that Clinton did a better job than Trump in the first of their three televised debates, compared with 26 percent who felt that Trump did better.

U.S. presidential debates have historically been seen as a crucial test of candidates’ poise and policies. They also provide a major platform for the candidates to try to win over millions of undecided voters.

Among those who are expected to take part in the Nov. 8 general election, 34 percent said they felt that the debate changed their view of Clinton in a positive way, compared with 19 percent who said the same of Trump.

Some 31 percent of likely voters said the debate improved Clinton’s chances of winning the White House, while 16 percent said the debate benefited Trump.

Even so, Clinton’s performance seemed to have little impact on her support among America’s likely voters. The poll showed 42 percent supported Clinton while 38 percent supported Trump. Over the past few weeks Clinton has maintained a lead of between 4 and 6 points over Trump.

Narrowing the focus to likely voters who watched the debate, Clinton led Trump 44 percent to 39 percent. The televised face-off attracted a record 84 million U.S. viewers.

Of those who thought Clinton emerged the victor from the debate, 85 percent were Democrats and 22 percent were Republicans.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted every day in English in all 50 states. Monday’s sample of 2,036 American adults included 1,336 people who were considered to be likely voters from their voting record, registration status and stated intention to vote in the election. Among those likely voters, 1,026 said they watched some portion of the debate on live TV, online or in media clips that were circulated after the debate.

The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points for the entire sample and the sample of likely voters. It has a credibility interval of 4 percentage points for the likely voters who watched the debate.

(Reporting by Chris Kahn, editing by Richard Valdmanis and Ross Colvin)

Photo: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gives a thumbs up as she boards her campaign plane in White Plains, New York, United States September 15, 2016, to resume her campaign schedule following a bout with pneumonia.  REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Clinton Leads Trump By Four Points Ahead Of First Debate: Reuters/Ipsos Poll

Clinton Leads Trump By Four Points Ahead Of First Debate: Reuters/Ipsos Poll

By Chris Kahn

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Democrat Hillary Clinton had a four-percentage point advantage in support over Republican Donald Trump ahead of their first U.S. presidential debate, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos national tracking poll released on Friday.

The Sept. 16-22 opinion poll showed that 41 percent of likely voters supported Clinton, while 37 percent supported Trump. Clinton has mostly led Trump in the poll during the 2016 campaign, though her advantage has narrowed since the end of the Democratic and Republican national conventions in July.

With just six weeks before the Nov. 8 election, Monday’s debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York will be the first of three between the White House rivals. It presents a major opportunity for them to appeal to voters who have yet to commit to a candidate after a mostly negative race in which Clinton and Trump have sought to brand each other as untrustworthy and dangerous for the country.

The live, televised matchup is expected to draw a Super Bowl-sized television audience of 100 million Americans, according to some commentators.

Among those watching will be people who so far remain on the fence. This could be a sizable group: Some 22 percent of likely voters said in the latest poll that they do not support either major-party candidate. That was more than twice the proportion of uncommitted voters at the same point in the 2012 election between Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney.

These uncommitted voters appear to be leaning more toward Trump than Clinton, according to the latest poll, though they have not been convinced enough to say they will vote for him in November. It was also possible that some of these voters would pick an alternative-party candidate like Libertarian Gary Johnson or the Green Party’s Jill Stein.

Clinton led a separate four-way poll that included Trump, Johnson and Stein. Among likely voters, 39 percent supported Clinton, 37 percent favored Trump, 7 percent picked Johnson and 2 percent supported Stein.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll is conducted online in English in the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii. It included 1,559 respondents who were considered to be likely voters given their voting history, registration status and stated intention to show up on Election Day. It has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points, meaning results could vary by that much either way.

National polls have produced varying measurements of support for Clinton and Trump during the 2016 campaign. The differences are partly due to the fact that some polls, like Reuters/Ipsos, try to include only likely voters, while others include all registered voters. The Reuters/Ipsos tracking poll gathers responses every day and reports results twice a week, so it often detects trends in sentiment before most other polls.

Polling aggregators, which calculate averages of major polls, have shown that Clinton’s lead over Trump has been shrinking this month. The most recent individual polls put her advantage at 3 percentage points.

(Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Jonathan Oatis)

IMAGE: U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives at a campaign event in Orlando, U.S. September 21, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Clinton Leads Trump By 12 Points In Reuters/Ipsos Poll

Clinton Leads Trump By 12 Points In Reuters/Ipsos Poll

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton leads Republican rival Donald Trump by 12 percentage points among likely voters, her strongest showing this month, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday.

The Aug. 18-22 poll showed that 45 percent of voters supported Clinton, while 33 percent backed Trump ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

Clinton, the former U.S. secretary of state, has led Trump, a New York businessman, throughout most of the 2016 campaign. But her latest lead represents a stronger level of support than polls indicated over the past few weeks. Earlier in August, Clinton‘s lead over Trump ranged from 3 to 9 percentage points in the poll.

The poll also found that about 22 percent of likely voters would not pick either candidate. That lack of support is high compared with how people responded to the poll during the 2012 presidential election between Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney.

“Those who are wavering right now are just as likely to be thinking about supporting a third-party candidate instead, and not between Clinton and Trump,” said Tom Smith, who directs the Center for the Study of Politics and Society at the University of Chicago.

During the latest polling, Clinton faced renewed scrutiny about her handling of classified emails while serving as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, and Trump’s campaign chief, Paul Manafort, resigned after a reshuffle of the candidate’s campaign leadership team.

Clinton held a smaller lead in a separate four-way poll that included Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Jill Stein of the Green Party. Among likely voters, 41 percent supported Clinton, while 33 percent backed Trump. Johnson was backed by 7 percent and Stein by 2 percent.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English in all 50 states. Both presidential polls included 1,115 respondents and had a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points.

(Editing by Peter Cooney)

Photo: A combination photo shows U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (L) and Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump (R) in Los Angeles, California on May 5, 2016 and in Eugene, Oregon, U.S. on May 6, 2016 respectively.  REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson (L) and Jim Urquhart/File Photos

Clinton Leads Trump By Eight Points: Reuters/Ipsos Poll

Clinton Leads Trump By Eight Points: Reuters/Ipsos Poll

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton leads Republican rival Donald Trump by 8 percentage points among likely voters, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Friday.

The Aug. 14-18 survey showed 42 percent of Americans supported Clinton ahead of the Nov. 8 general election. That compares with 34 percent support for Trump. Another 23 percent of likely voters would not pick either candidate.

Clinton has led Trump in the poll throughout most of the 2016 campaign, and has maintained her advantage following last month’s Republican and Democratic conventions. Since late July, support for the former secretary of state has ranged between 41 percent and 44 percent of likely voters, while Trump’s support has varied between 33 percent and 39 percent.

The race was tighter at this point in the 2012 election, with Democratic President Barack Obama ahead of Republican nominee Mitt Romney by less than 2 percentage points.

Clinton also led a separate Reuters/Ipsos poll that asked people to choose between Clinton, Trump, Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Jill Stein of the Green Party. Some 41 percent supported Clinton and 34 percent supported Trump. Among alternative-party candidates, Johnson came in third with 7 percent and about 2 percent supported Stein.

Clinton and Trump have both struggled to inspire American voters this year. According to the poll, neither candidate is regarded favorably by most Americans, and two-thirds of U.S. adults believe the country is on the wrong track.

Clinton continues to face questions about her handling of classified emails while serving as Obama’s secretary of state, while Trump’s off-the-cuff remarks about immigrants, women and Muslims have rankled members of his own party.

Republican leaders, including former members of Congress, have called for the Republican National Committee to stop helping Trump and refocus its resources on helping candidates win down-ballot races for the House of Representatives and the Senate. Earlier this week, Trump reshuffled his campaign leadership while his campaign chief, Paul Manafort, faced increased scrutiny over his work with pro-Russian political groups in the Ukraine. Manafort resigned on Friday.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online in English in all 50 states. It surveyed samples of 1,119 and 1,118 likely voters, respectively, and has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of 3 percentage points.

(Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Photo: U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton delivers remarks at a gathering of law enforcement leaders at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, U.S., August 18, 2016.  REUTERS/Lucas Jackson