This story was originally published on nationaljournal.com on September 16, 2016 Polls coming out every day make it clear that this presidential race has gotten very close. National surveys put it somewhere between a tie and a lead of about 2 points for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. This is a far cry from the lead of about 8 points that Clinton had last month, although that gap was probably unsustainable. Think about 2008 when John McCain lost to Barack Obama by a bit less 8 eight percent. McCain carried the burden of the party in the White House at a time when the country was beginning to experience the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Then-President Bush had abysmal ratings, with the last Gallup poll before the election giving him an approval rating of 25 percent, the third time that year he had plunged to that depth. On top of that, the McCain campaign had been in rollercoaster mode for a year and a half and had nothing like the organization that the Obama team had put together.
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