In Week 4, senior Lee Fisher analyzes the most recent polls, scandals, events, and more of both candidates. Click on the links to learn more. Creative Commons Images by Gage Skidmore and Hans Watson. 

Latest Polls
According to a poll analysis from FiveThirtyEight, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton currently leads Republican nominee Donald Trump with a predicted 85.6 percent chance of winning the 2016 presidential election. FiveThirtyEight predicts that Clinton will be able to garner 49.2 percent of the popular vote and 339 electoral votes, putting her well above the 270 required to take the presidency. One national poll taken Thursday put Clinton up by eight points, while another poll put Trump up by two. Clinton’s lead has been steadily building since the last week of September, and this past week has been no exception.

Donald Trump
Scandals:
This past week, Trump’s campaign has spiraled. Last Friday night, the Washington Post released a video of Trump making crude remarks about women and bragging about sexual assault during a 2005 conversation with Today show host Billy Bush. The video sparked controversy and outrage as 20% of GOP lawmakers withdrew their support for their party’s nominee. Trump recorded and released a video apology, which equated his remarks to “locker room talk.” The weekend ended with a Sunday night town hall style debate, in which Trump was forced to address his 2005 comments. Later in the week, after sexual assault accusations and general backlash, Trump repeatedly insisted that the election and the media were both rigged against him.

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

Events:
Trump has been campaigning throughout the United States, hitting key states like New Hampshire, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Missouri. Trump also attended the debate last weekend and has been very active on Twitter. To see Trump’s Twitter account, click here.

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 has had some struggles of her own this week, following the WikiLeaks leak of transcripts of speeches that Clinton made to Goldman Sachs officials and more emails from her private server. These leaks, as well as Donald Trump’s accusations about Clinton’s husband, former president Bill Clinton, have amounted to a difficult week in the press for Clinton.

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 Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Colorado, and Nevada, while Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders, Bill Clinton, and others campaigned for her in various other states. Clinton also took the time to appear on The Ellen Show in California this week.

What to Look For
On Oct. 19, the presidential candidates will face off for the third time in a debate at University of Nevada, Las Vegas. 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 second debate. Then, in just a few short weeks, 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!