Hillary Clinton is leading over Donald Trump by 47-43 per cent. (File Photo)
On the eve of the key Republican national convention, there is some good news for the Democratic presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton: she is leading over Donald Trump by 47-43 per cent.
According to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, Clinton is leading the Republican presumptive nominee Trump by 47-43 per cent among registered voters. That represents a shift in Trump's direction since last month's Post-ABC survey, which showed Clinton leading by 12 points.
In the new poll, among all adults, Clinton, 68, leads by 10 points - 50-40 per cent - compared to a 14-point lead among this wider group last month.
Both candidates remain highly unpopular - the two most unpopular in the history of Post-ABC polling. By roughly 2-1 (64-31 per cent), Americans view Trump, 70, unfavourably.
Clinton's numbers are not quite so negative - 42 favorable and 54 unfavorable. Half of all registered voters say they have strongly unfavorable views of Trump, while 47 per cent say they have strongly unfavorable views of Clinton - the highest ever in a Post-ABC poll for her.
The survey also highlights the degree to which Americans are motivated by negative impulses rather than seeing the choice in positive terms. Almost six in 10 say they are dissatisfied with the choice of Trump versus Clinton. Fifty- four per cent of Clinton's supporters say they are mainly voting against Trump while 57 per cent of Trump supporters say they are mainly voting against Clinton, the Washington Post reported.
Given the dissatisfaction, there is the possibility that candidates from minor parties will attract the support of disaffected voters. In a four-way match-up that also includes Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party and Jill Stein of the Green Party, the results are: Clinton 42 per cent, Trump 38 per cent, Johnson 8 per cent and Stein 5 per cent.
The new poll comes after a tumultuous two weeks that included the killings of five police officers in Dallas, and deadly police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota. All these events have added to the tensions of a country on edge and heightened the importance of security and racial issues in the choice of a new president, the Post noted.
The poll also comes after Clinton was spared prosecution by the government for her use of a private server as secretary of state. The previous Post-ABC poll showed Clinton with a larger lead than some other national surveys taken around the same time.
Republicans begin their nominating convention in Cleveland tomorrow and will conclude Thursday with the expected nomination of Trump and Governor Mike Pence of Indiana as the vice presidential running mate.
The Democratic convention will begin on July 25, in Philadelphia, with Clinton poised to become the first woman nominated for president by one of the two major parties.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)