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Hillary Clinton enjoys staggering 14-point lead over Donald Trump in latest poll: Thursday morning US election briefing
The Associated Press-GfK poll gives the Democrat her largest lead yet with just 12 days until the election.
The poll showed Mrs Clinton has the support of 90 per cent of likely Democrat voters, and also has the backing of 15 per cent of more moderate Republicans. Just 79 per cent of all Republicans surveyed said they were voting for their party's nominee.
With voting already underway in 37 states, and Mrs Clinton leading in many of the key swing states, Mr Trump's opportunities to overtake his rival are quickly evaporating. However, a Fox News poll gave Mrs Clinton just a three-point lead, at 44-41.
Republican Party leaders that disowned Mr Trump have begun preparing to oppose a Clinton administration, which some state could mark a return to the partisan battles of the 1990s.
“It’s a target-rich environment,” Jason Chaffetz, a Republican congressman from Utah, told the Washington Post. “Even before we get to Day One, we’ve got two years’ worth of material already lined up. She has four years of history at the State Department, and it ain’t good.”
If Republicans retain control of the House it would mean that Mrs Clinton would become the first incoming president since George H.W. Bush to face an opposition in control of the House Oversight Committee.
Mr Trump again lashed out yesterday at senior Republicans who have refused to support him.
“The people are very angry with the leadership of this party, because this is an election that we will win, 100 per cent, if we had support from the top,” he said.
Mrs Clinton said she intended to reach out to Republican leaders in Congress next month but sidestepped a question of whether she plans to meet one-on-one with Mr Trump after the November election.
She said she would do "everything I can to reach out to people who didn't vote for me".
At the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner in New York last week, Mrs Clinton reportedly said to MrTrump: "Donald, whatever happens, we need to work together afterwards."
Her campaign announced yesterday she would be spending election night in New York with an event at the Javits Center - possibly chosen because the conference venue has a glass ceiling.
Mrs Clinton was also boosted yesterday by the Muslim-American father who lost his son in Iraq and was attacked by Mr Trump over the summer.
Khizr Khan said the Republican was unfit to lead the country's armed forces and claimed the "future of the earth" was at stake on November 8.
Useful links
- How does US presidential election work and which swing states will determine who wins?
- When is US election 2016, and what is the timetable for the night?
- US election 2016 polls and odds tracker: Latest forecast before exit polls
Top headlines
Trump detours from campaign trail to open Washington hotel
Mr Trump raised eyebrows yesterday by departing the campaign trail to attend the grand opening of his new luxury hotel in Washington, David Lawler reports.
With thirteen days remaining before the election, and Hillary Clinton ahead in the polls, Mr Trump held what his campaign said was not a campaign event, but a "corporate ceremony".
The Republican nominee kept one eye on the election, though, comparing the renovations of the historic building - just down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House - to the changes in store for America if he is elected.
Acknowledging the elephant in the room, he said building hotels "seems very insignificant compared to what we're doing now," quickly adding that he would soon depart for the swing state of North Carolina.
Adele urges concertgoers to vote for Clinton
Adele told her audience at a Miami concert on Tuesday night to vote for Mrs Clinton.
The presidential nominee was watching from the audience on the eve of her 69th birthday as the singer endorsed her.
Nick Merrill, a Clinton spokesman, told reporters Adele said on stage that even though she can't vote in the US election that she is "100 per cent for Hillary Clinton".
Mrs Clinton later thanked her for the endorsement. “I went to the Adele concert after we finished our day of campaigning in Florida and I was stunned and thrilled because I’m a huge fan of hers and it meant a lot to me that she said something so positive,” the 69-year-old told SiriusXM.
Trump's Hollywood Walk of Fame star smashed by vandal with sledgehammer
Mr Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has been attacked with a sledgehammer.
The billionaire's star, located at 6801 Hollywood Blvd, was awarded to him in 2007.
Deadline reported that the damage was inflicted by a man dressed as a construction worker, who used a pick-axe and sledgehammer.
Journalist Dominic Patten, who witnessed the incident, says the man who identified himself as the vandal claimed he planned to remove the star and auction it off, donating the proceeds to women who have accused Trump of sexual assault.
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Analysis of the day: This US election is the nastiest I can remember – and there are signs the voters are exhausted
David Millward writes:
It has all been pretty tawdry. For the past few weeks both Donald Trump's and Hillary Clinton's campaigns have brought out a procession of wronged women.
Trump shared a press conference with alleged mistresses of Bill Clinton; in turn, Democrat-supporting Gloria Allred presented a number of tearful women who say they were groped by Mr Trump at some point over the past decade or so.
The Democrats proclaimed that when Donald Trump goes low, they go high – one would suspect that means about as high as the groin. But the tone had already been set by Mr Trump as he was laying waste to his Republican rivals during the primary race.
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Campaign schedules today
Republicans
- Donald Trump in Springfield, Ohio - 1pm ET (6pm BST)
- Donald Trump in Toledo, Ohio - 4pm ET (9pm BST)
- Donald Trump in Geneva, Ohio - 7pm ET (12am BST)
- Mike Pence in Omaha, Nebraska - 10.30am CDT (4.30pm BST)
- Mike Pence in Fort Dodge, Iowa - 1.30pm CDT (7.30pm BST)
Democrats
- Hillary Clinton & Michelle Obama in Salem, North Carolina - 9am ET (2pm BST)
- Tim Kaine in Cleveland, Ohio - 10.30am ET (3.30pm BST)
- Tim Kaine in Columbus, Ohio - 3pm ET (8pm BST)
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