Hillary Clinton Takes Lead over Donald Trump: Polls

Hillary Clinton Takes Lead over Donald Trump: Polls

Two head-to-head polls released on Sunday showed a resurgent Hillary Clinton vaulting atop the US presidential race after a tumultuous month for Donald Trump, who has failed to rally confidence among voters or party leaders.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll showed a 12 percentage point lead for the Democrat, her largest advantage since last fall and a dramatic improvement over last month when the poll showed her statistically tied with Trump.

If the presidential elections were held today, 51% of respondents said they would vote for Clinton, versus 39% for Trump.

However, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showed a slimmer lead for Clinton, 46% to Trump's 41%.

They were essentially tied, 39% for Clinton and 38% for Republican opponent, when third-party candidates were included, this poll showed.

The surveys come after a difficult month for the combative Trump, a political novice who fired his campaign manager and faced criticism for poor campaign organisation and a paltry war chest of $1.3 million at the end of May.

Clinton, who has repeatedly pounded Trump as being "temperamentally unfit," finished the month with $42 million. Trump faced a widespread outcry after he accused a federal judge of bias because of his Mexican heritage. The judge is presiding over cases involving Trump's defunct online university.

And in the aftermath of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, the brash businessman tweeted his thanks to people who congratulated him for "being right on radical Islamic terrorism."

He renewed calls for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the US and then doubled down, suggesting profiling of Muslims was not off the table.

On Saturday, Trump seemed to change course, saying immigration from "regions linked with terrorism" should be suspended.

"I think there's no question that he's made a number of mistakes over the last few weeks," Republican Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, told ABC News on Sunday.

"I think they're beginning to right the ship. It's a long time until November. And the burden, obviously, will be on him to convince people that he can handle this job."

According to the Washington Post-ABC News poll, two in three Americans say Trump is unqualified to lead the nation, are anxious about the idea of a Trump presidency and find his comments about women, minorities and Muslims to show an "unfair bias."

Courtesy : News 18

Hillary Clinton Wins Biggest Labor Union Endorsement

Hillary Clinton Wins Biggest Labor Union Endorsement

AFL-CIO pledges to get out the union vote for the Democratic nominee.

As Hillary Clinton racked up labor endorsements over the course of the Democratic primary contest, the biggest labor federation in the country was conspicuously absent from her list of backers, having decided to remain neutral throughout the Democratic primary even as its member organizations largely flocked to the front-runner. But on Thursday, with the final votes in the Democratic primary contest now cast, the AFL-CIO's board voted to endorse Clinton, in an effort that could help unite the party's factions and try to win over disaffected blue-collar voters who might be attracted to Donald Trump's protectionist message.

"The activism of working people has already been a major force in this election," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement, "and is now poised to elect Hillary Clinton and move America forward."

It's not surprising to see the 12.5 million-member labor federation, which has backed every Democratic candidate for president since it sat out the 1972 contest, throw its weight behind the presumptive Democratic nominee. As Politico's Brian Mahoney noted ahead of the vote, 80 percent of the people sitting on the AFL-CIO's executive board, which voted on the endorsement, hailed from unions that had already thrown their support to Clinton.

Trumka gave a slight nod to Bernie Sanders in offering the endorsement, saying that his "impact on American politics cannot be overstated."

The AFL-CIO promised to turn on its political machine immediately to start boosting Clinton. "This election offers a stark choice between an unstoppable champion for working families and an unstable charlatan who made his fortune scamming them," Lee Saunders, the AFSCME president and chair of the AFL-CIO's political committee, said. Though there's been some speculation that Trump's appeals to white working-class men might allow the Republican to attract a larger swath of union voters in states like Pennsylvania or Wisconsin, so far the national organizations haven't shown any sign of breaking away from the Democratic candidate.

Hillary Clinton has hailed a historical "milestone" for women as she claimed victory over rival Bernie Sanders in the Democratic White House nomination race.

Hillary Clinton has hailed a historical "milestone" for women as she claimed victory over rival Bernie Sanders in the Democratic White House nomination race.

Key points:

• Clinton now has enough pledged delegates to win the Democratic nomination
• Bernie Sanders has not conceded defeat, saying he will fight on
• Clinton will be the first female presidential nominee for a major party

"Thanks to you, we've reached a milestone," she told cheering supporters at a rally in New York. 

"It's the first time in our nation's history that a woman will be a major party's nominee."

Mrs Clinton's win in New Jersey, one of six states voting on the last major date of the 2016 primary race, won her an extra 73 delegates for the Democratic convention in July and sealed her place as the party's presumptive nominee.

After her New Jersey victory, the former secretary of state held out an olive branch to Mr Sanders, whose supporters she needs to enlist in the looming presidential showdown.

"I want to congratulate Senator Sanders for an extraordinary campaign," Mrs Clinton, 68, said.

"Let there be no mistake, Senator Sanders, his campaign, and the vigorous debate that we've had about how to raise income, reduce inequality, increase upward mobility, have been very good for the Democratic party and for America.

"We believe that we are stronger together. And the stakes in this election are high, and the choice is clear."

Courtesy :  http://www.abc.net.au/news