CNN Polls: Donald Trump Leads?

For voters that started the primaries with “Trump is a joke, he won’t make it to the general elections,” this will come as both a shock and a disappointment: not only was Trump been announced the Republican nominee, but it was also  announced that he had surpassed Hillary in the polls.

The recent CNN polls show that the Republican Convention gave Trump the bounce he needed to exceed Hillary in the polls, which were conducted from July 22 to July 24. Currently, he stands at a solid 44% in the four-way matchup, while Hillary stands at 39%, Johnson at 9% and Stein at 3%. In a two-way matchup, Trump is at 48% and Hillary at 45%. With the Republican party struggling to present a united front and rushing to endorse him, an increase in support for Trump was inevitable.

This news has certainly garnered mass attention, especially in the realm of social media. While Trump supporters have responded with enthusiasm, Democrats, on the other hand, have challenged the credibility of the polls. A CNN article explained:

“The CNN/ORC Poll was conducted by telephone July 22-24 among a random national sample of 1,001 adults. Results for the sample of 882 registered voters have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.”

Democrats have decried CNN polls for being faulty and bias. They have constantly argued to “trace the money” in order to reveal the influences on the medium that result in the bias news. Meanwhile, Republicans have responded by stating that had it been Bernie leading the polls, the Democrats would not be this eager to challenge the  medium.

However, inarguably,  jumping to any conclusion before a national poll is conducted by several media outlets, especially now that the Democratic Convention is taking place as well, is unwise. This is simply a small sample result and should be treated as such. Social media, in particular, has a way of trending under-researched ideas and making them seem like accurate reflections of the situation on the ground. Nevertheless, popular news doesn’t correlate with accurate news; it merely creates a virtual reality, which at times is far from the situation on the ground and just feeds an atmosphere of paranoia.

It would, however, be unjust to say that this poll doesn’t present us with any significant information. It definitely alludes to an increase in support for Trump after the RNC regardless of the specifics of the percentages and who’s ahead; this is a direct result of the attempted unification of the Republican party. Therefore, while it isn’t something to be taken gravely, it also definitely isn’t something to be taken with a grain of salt; Democrats need to stay alert because Trump is on the rise!

Featured Image via Flickr/Gage Skidmore