US presidential race in a dead heat, says new poll

WASHINGTON: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump are in a dead heat in the race for White House, according to a new poll today.

"Heading into the two parties' conventions, the race for President is a dead heat, a change from last month when Hillary Clinton led by six points," said The New York Times and CBS releasing the results of their joint poll.

"Forty per cent of registered voters now say they will back Clinton (a dip of three points), while 40 per cent will vote for Trump (a bump up of three points). A month ago, Clinton led Trump 43 to 37 per cent," the news outlets said on Thursday.

This poll was conducted by telephone July 8-12, among a random sample of 1,600 adults nationwide, including 1,358 registered voters.

In another poll conducted by Rasmussen said Trump is leading Clinton by seven points. Trump has 44 per cent support to Clinton's 37 per cent, it said.

Trump has been leading in this poll for the past several weeks.

According to RealClearPolitics.Com, which keeps track of all major national polls, Clinton has an edge of 3.1 percentage points over Trump in the average of major polls.