Donald Trump And Hillary Clinton Close In Latest National Polls

Images via Gage Skidmore, Flickr/Creative Commons

Hillary Clinton will easily beat Donald Trump in the general election, right?

Not so fast, recent polls say.

The latest, from Reuters/Ipsos released Wednesday afternoon, shows the two likely party nominees separated by just one percentage point.

The online poll was conducted from Friday, May 6, through Tuesday, May 10 and surveyed 1,289 people. Clinton had 41 percent support to Trump's 40 percent, well within the polls 3-percent margin of error. The other 19 percent or respondents were still undecided.

And other recent polls are telling a similar story.

Public Policy Polling surveyed 1,222 registered voters from May 6 to May 9 and Clinton led Trump 42 percent to 38 percent — a slightly larger margin than the Reuters poll (and outside the poll's 3.2 percent margin of error).

A Quinnipiac University poll looked at three key swing states — Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. Clinton and Trump were within the margin of error in Florida and Pennsylvania, while Trump led by four percentage points in Ohio.

These polls show a much closer race than previously imagined. Clinton was up comfortably by double digits just recently. RealClearPolitics' running average of major national polls had Clinton leading by as many as 11.4 percentage points on March 24. Trump only trailed by 6.4 percent in their most recent average.

But a lot can change in the next 180 days.

Experts say Trump has plenty of time to say more outlandish and bombastic things that may turn away even more potential voters. And as the actual election approaches, people will take their votes more seriously.

“It’s a little early in the process for people to wrap their heads around the idea that Donald Trump could have the nuclear launch-codes,” Democratic strategist Evan Stavisky told The Hill. “As the election comes closer, that suspension of disbelief will end.”

November can't get here fast enough.