Poll: Trump gaining on Clinton nationally

CLEVELAND — As Republicans gather at their party’s convention this week, they can also celebrate a new poll that has their presumptive nominee gaining nationally.

A Monmouth University poll has Hillary Clinton just 3 points ahead of Donald Trump with registered voters nationally and 2 points ahead of those surveyed who are most likely to vote in November. Those numbers fall within the margin of error.

Forty-three percent of registered voters said they supported Clinton, and 40% said they backed Trump. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson had 5% and the Green Party’s Jill Stein had 2%, while 2% backed someone else entirely.

Of those surveyed who were most likely to vote in November, 45% were for Clinton, 43% were for Trump, 5% backed Johnson, 1% backed Stein and 2% supported someone else.

Trump can celebrate the bump. Last month, Clinton held a 6-point lead among registered voters and a 7-point lead with likely November voters.

Trump’s announcement that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence had joined his ticket had no effect on three-fourths (76%) of voters who were surveyed. Eleven percent said they were more likely to support Trump with Pence as his running mate and 10% said they were less likely.

And despite all the conversations about the need for the Democratic Party to come together behind Clinton, just 17% of those surveyed said that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ endorsement would get them to back Clinton. Nine percent said they were less likely to vote for the former secretary of State and 73% said the endorsement didn’t impact their decision.

The telephone poll was conducted July 14-16 of 805 registered U.S. voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 points.