Alexander Bolton writes in The Hill about the worry among Democrats over GOP nominee Donald Trump’s impressive post-convention poll bounce.
Democrats are alarmed over a cluster of new polls showing Donald Trump enjoying a healthy bounce in support after the Cleveland convention.
Worried Democrats say they thought some of the “dark” themes that Trump and his allies raised in Cleveland wouldn’t gain traction in modern-day America.
Yet a flurry of polls have suggested Trump is ahead, or in a dead heat with presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Some Democrats can’t believe they are in a close race.
“It shouldn’t be this close. I don’t think there’s any question that the closeness of this race is cause for everybody to concern himself and recommit themselves to this campaign,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) said Monday afternoon.
A new CNN/ORC poll shows Trump benefiting from a 10-point swing in support, putting him 3 points ahead of Clinton, 48-45. A CNN/ORC poll from mid July showed Clinton with a seven-point lead.
A new CBS News survey shows Trump leading 44 percent to 43 percent and an LA Times/USC poll shows him with a 45 to 41 percent advantage.
The latest round of polls follows a survey released by Quinnipiac University earlier this month showing Trump up by three points in Florida and two points in Pennsylvania, two states that President Obama carried in 2008 and 2012.
Senate Democrats expressed their jitters over polling data during a meeting with Clinton at the Capitol earlier this month where some lawmakers “freaked out,” according to a Democratic senator who attended.
Read the rest here.