Reuters is reporting that Republican nominee Donald Trump is gaining on Hillary Clinton. According to the report, voters have been receptive to Trump’s message that the political system is “rigged” against his campaign and against the interests of the American people. Reuters found that an astonishing seven in ten Republicans believe that a Clinton victory would be the result of a rigged process.
“Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gained on his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton among American voters this week, cutting her lead nearly in half, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling released on Friday… Clinton led Trump 44 percent to 40 percent, according to the Oct. 14-20 Reuters/Ipsos poll, a 4-point lead. That compared with 44 percent for Clinton and 37 percent for Trump in the Oct. 7-13 poll released last week,” the Reuters report states.
The report documents how “polling data showed Trump’s argument that the Nov. 8 election is ‘rigged’ against him has resonated with members of his party… the Reuters/Ipsos data showed only half of Republicans would accept Clinton as their president, and nearly 70 percent of them said a Clinton victory would be because of illegal voting or vote rigging.”
Throughout the last week, Trump has repeatedly argued that the political system is “rigged.” Trump has pointed specifically to voter fraud, the decision to “let Crooked [Hillary] off the hook… for [her] crime,” the questionable practices during the primary process that helped enable Clinton to prevail over Bernie Sanders to become her party’s nominee, and corporate media’s collusion with Clinton’s campaign revealed by WikiLeaks.
Reuters reports that Trump’s campaign message of railing against political corruption has been embraced at Trump rallies:
Trump’s crowd chanted “Lock her up!” at a rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania after he declared Clinton a “corrupt globalist,” a reference to campaign documents released by WikiLeaks in which Clinton was quoted advocating free trade and open borders.
Yet beyond just his supporters, Trump’s message that the political system is rigged and corrupt has similarly been echoed by his detractors on the other side of the aisle.
For instance, far-left progressive and Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein and her party have repeatedly attacked the “rigged” and corrupt system that was stacked in favor of Clinton against Sanders.
Similarly, WikiLeaks tweeted: