Donald Trump is entering Thursday night’s clash in Atlanta with a slight breeze at his back according to polling conducted in the run-up to the first presidential debate. While most national polls still show Trump and Joe Biden neck and neck, the latest round of high-quality surveys generally point to a slight bump for the presumptive Republican nominee, including those from The New York Times/Siena College and Quinnipiac University released on the eve of the debate in Atlanta.
His lead is similar in a Quinnipiac poll of registered voters: 49 percent to 45 percent. Though the changes from both pollsters’ previous surveys are within the margin of error, both are slightly in Trump’s direction — notable because the previous polls came before Trump’s conviction on criminal charges in New York last month.