In a recent opinion poll conducted by the New York Times and CBS News, presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump and presumptive DNC nominee Hillary Clinton are tied at 40 percent among voters for the general election. The poll further revealed that the two are even or very nearly tied on several major issues, none of which is good news for Hillary Clinton's campaign.
A major challenge for Clinton throughout her campaign has been public perception of her trustworthiness, which The New York Times linked the end of the FBI investigation of her private email server. The FBI ultimately cleared Clinton of any illegal wrongdoing by the end of their investigation, but both Clinton and the State Department were reprimanded by FBI director James Comey for the way they handled classified information. This underscored the message from Republicans, especially Donald Trump, that Clinton can't be trusted.
The new poll from the Times and CBS found that 67 percent of voters perceive Clinton as untrustworthy. The New York Times reported that this number is up 5 percentage points from a previous CBS News poll that was conducted before the FBI released their final report on Clinton's emails.
This latest poll shows Clinton and Trump neck and neck on several key issues. The two candidates were in an even tie with 46 percent each on the question of who would do a better job on terrorism and national security. Regarding who would do best on illegal immigration, Clinton lead Trump by a narrow 3 percentage points: 48 percent to 45 percent. Trump had a significant lead of 52 percent to 41 percent regarding economy and jobs, and Clinton had a massive lead of 60 percent to Trump's 29 percent on who would best handle race relations.
Both candidates will have to contend with their obvious deficits in public perception and also the fact that they're nearly tied on issues important to voters leading into their parties' respective conventions later this month. The Republican National Convention will be held July 18 through 21 in Cleveland, and the Democrats will have their convention in Philadelphia July 25 through 28.
