Trump cuts Clinton’s lead in Virginia

Donald Trump has made up lost ground in the past month but still trails Hillary Clinton by seven percentage points in Virginia, according to the The Roanoke College Poll.

The survey of 841 likely voters, released on Thursday, shows Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate, leading Trump, the Republican, 44 percent to 37 percent.

Since August, Clinton's vote share declined by 4 percentage points while Trump's share has increased by 5 points.

Libertarian Gary Johnson remained steady with 8 percent of likely voters, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein dropped to 1 percent, while 9 percent remain undecided.

In a two-way matchup, Clinton leads by 11 points (51 to 40 percent).

Clinton led by 16 points in the August poll (48 to 32 percent).    

The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.4 percent. 

The changing numbers reflect shifting support among ideological moderates, where Clinton's lead has declined from 57 to 22 percent in August to 45 to 29 percent, and partisan Independents, where Clinton still leads 37 to 29 percent but by a smaller margin than in August (43 to 25 percent).

Clinton still claims the support of 88 percent of Democrats, while Trump is backed by 81 percent of Republicans (81%). Both of those are within the margin of error with August.

“Donald Trump has reduced Hillary Clinton's lead overall, particularly with ideological moderates and political independents,” Harry Wilson, director of the Institute for Policy and Opinion Research, said in a statement. “Still, he has not fully consolidated support among Republicans, and his favorable ratings, though improved, remain extremely low for any candidate.

“Clinton appears to have weathered a very bad couple of weeks on the campaign trail. That said, she needs to stop her slide. If those reluctant Republicans return to Trump and he continues to make inroads among other groups, then her lead could disappear.”