US election 2016: Clinton's plan to have Trump hand her the election isn't working
Here's what happened on the campaign trail the week of Sept. 5.
Hillary Clinton's plan to win the presidency has largely consisted of standing back and letting Donald Trump self-destruct. That doesn't seem to be working anymore.
The latest RealClearPolitics polling average shows the Republican candidate steadily closing the gap with his Democratic opponent. Clinton is now leading Trump by less than 3 percentage points — 45.6% to 42.9% — down from 9 points right after the Democratic National Convention in July.
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Because of the way the US electorate is distributed, Clinton still has a substantial edge over Trump. To clinch the deal, she only needs to win 41 electoral votes in the relative handful of states that are currently considered toss-ups, while Trump needs 116 to reach the magic number of 270. That electoral map is constantly shifting, however, with three states — Virginia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — that were considered to be in the Clinton column just last month now up for grabs.
