Roanoke College poll: Trump closing gap among Va voters

Even hillary clinton still holds a significant lead in virginia, but a new poll from roanoke college shows that donald trump has come on strong in the last month.

Joe dashiell is in the studio tonight with the latest numbers, and what they mean for the presidential race here in virginia.

Jean and chris, when roanoke college released its last poll in august, hillary clinton was leading by 16 percentage points among likely voters.

Since then, donald trump has closed the gap by more than half, and now trails hillary clinton by 7 percent here in virginia.

Harry wilson/wdbj7 political analyst: from where we were a month ago, that's a very big difference.

The institute for policy and opinion research at roanoke college interviewed 841 likely voters in virginia during the last two weeks.

Clinton still leads the race, with 44 percent.

But trump has pulled within 7 at 37 percent.

Harry wilson: from where we were a month ago, that's a very big difference.

He's closed the gap more than half way from a month ago, probably a result of him having a relatively good month on the campaign trail for him, being a little more disciplined staying on task, and for hillary clinton, obviously having not a very good month.

Wilson says there are two ways to look at the numbers.

Despite controversy involving hillary clinton's use of a private email server, and questions about her health, she has weathered a bad couple of weeks and still holds a substantial lead.

Or the numbers suggest trump has all of the momentum, and will continue to cut into clinton's lead.

Jean, wilson says we might begin to have an answer after the first debate next week.

He says presidential debates are important, and can shake up the race, if they send undecided voters toward one