TRUMP CLOSING – AT 9:21 A.M. ET:   A new poll just out confirms last week's Rasmussen finding, that Donald Trump is closing the gap with Hillary Clinton.  From The Hill: 

Hillary Clinton’s lead over Donald Trump has narrowed to single digits in a new national poll.

Clinton tops her likely general election rival by 5 points, 45.6 to 40.4 percent, in the USA Today/Suffolk University poll released on Monday.

Two months ago, Clinton led the businessman by double digits, 50 to 39 percent, in that poll.
Including Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein as potential options drops Clinton's lead over Trump to 4 points, 39 percent to 35 percent.

Monday's poll comes as both Clinton and Trump have solidified their standing as their parties' presumptive nominees despite their in-the-red favorability ratings.

Fifty-three percent have an unfavorable opinion of Clinton, 60 percent have an unfavorable opinion of Trump, and one in five—or roughly 20 percent—have a negative opinion of both candidates, according to the poll.

David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, told USA Today that voters who have a negative opinion of Clinton and Trump could end up "holding their noses and picking one of them or opting for a third-party option. Or staying home, come November."

According to the poll, 61 percent of likely voters feel "alarmed" about the election, while 23 percent are "excited" and another 9 percent say they are "bored."

The USA Today/Suffolk University poll of 1,000 likely voters was conducted by landline and cell phone from June 26 to June 29. It has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

COMMENT:  I just have a feeling that we're in for a very bumpy ride this fall, with poll numbers changing rapidly.  There is enormous discontent in the electorate, and for good reason.  Millions of Americans don't feel the American dream is working for them.  And they feel let down by the people they've elected.  That anger has to go somewhere politically, and we'll find out where on election day.

July 5,  2016