Are you overwhelmed by political jargon? Can’t stand disecting the latest election headlines? Check out staff reporter Lee Fisher’s week 3 election update. She sets out to inform readers in an easily digestible style.

Creative Commons Image by Gage Skidmore

By Lee Fisher

Week 3: Friday, October 7
This week’s election update… Click on the links to learn more.
 

Latest Polls
According to a poll analysis from FiveThirtyEight, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton currently leads Republican nominee Donald Trump with a predicted 78.7 percent chance of winning the 2016 presidential election. FiveThirtyEight predicts that Clinton will be able to garner 48.4 percent of the popular vote and 323 electoral votes, putting her well above the 270 required to take the presidency. One national poll taken Thursday put Clinton up by six points, and while another poll put Trump up by four. Although Clinton’s lead slipped in mid-August, the odds have steadily increased in her favor over the past two weeks.

Donald Trump

Scandals
This past week, Trump’s momentum in the polls has stagnated as major stories have broken. On Saturday, The New York Times uncovered tax records from 1995, an act that put the paper in jeopardy of legal action. The records showed that Trump allegedly reported a loss of $916 million, a loss so significant that it may have allowed Trump to avoid paying any federal income tax for nearly two decades. Trump responded to the leak the next day. “I know our complex tax laws better than anyone who has ever run for president,” the candidate tweeted. The next day, Trump’s campaign was slammed with allegations of improper fundraising by the New York Attorney General, and was ordered to immediately halt collection of funds in the state of New York. Later in the week, The Atlantic broke precedent and, for just the third time in the publication’s history, endorsed a presidential candidate: Hillary Clinton. The article proceeded to make an anti-Trump case and warned the public against voting for him.

Policies
This week, Trump introduced no new policies. His team has instead focused on the campaign trail, the vice presidential debate, and on combatting a particularly vicious news cycle following the debate and the coverage of the stories discussed above. To learn more on Trump’s current positions, click here.

Events
Trump has been campaigning throughout the United States, hitting key states like Nevada, South Carolina, Arizona, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. His Vice Presidential candidate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, went head to head with Clinton’s Vice Presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine in a debate on Tuesday night. Pence’s performance drew mixed reviews by both reinvigorating his running mate’s campaign through poise and polish, as well as drawing attention to potential drawbacks and flaws in the Republican platform.
Hillary Clinton

Scandals
This week, Clinton has seen a significant positive bump in the polls, following what most believed to be a winning debate performance and a significant dip for Trump after a rough week in the media. But Clinton hasn’t been perfect this week; she was caught on tape discussing Bernie Sanders supporters in a manner that some characterized as patronizing. “They’re children of the Great Recession. And they are living in their parents’ basement,” Clinton said. The audio clip could drastically affect Clinton’s abilities to connect with Sanders supporters and millennial voters in general.

Policies
Like Trump, Clinton was mostly quiet on policy this week. Instead, she used the past seven days to poke holes in Trump’s character and campaign strategy. To see more details on Clinton’s positions, click here.

Events
Clinton has used this past week to visit North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, while Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders, Bill Clinton, and others campaigned for her in various other states. Her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, also went head to head against Mike Pence in Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate.

What to Look For
It’s debate season, folks. On Oct. 9, the presidential candidates will face off for the second time in a town hall style debate at Washington University in St. Louis. This debate will offer an opportunity for each campaign to reiterate their policies and capitalize on any of their opponent’s weaknesses that have been exposed in the weeks since the last debate. Then, in just one month, on Nov. 8, the 2016 general election will determine the next President of the United States.

Read More
To find out more about the 2016 election, consult the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, CNN, FiveThirtyEight, or your local newspaper. Be sure to check back next Friday for a weekly update from The Coat of Arms!