Latest Polls: Clinton, Trump Race Tight, Democrats Seen Taking Control Of U.S. Senate [Updated]

Update 8 p.m. ET October 23: Real Clear Politics has posted updated results of a national ABC News Tracking poll, which concluded on October 22, showing Hillary Clinton with a 12 percentage point lead over Donald Trump, 53-41. The IBD/TIPP Tracking poll that had previously shown the candidates tied, now has Trump up by 1 percent.

Original article: Despite a seeming inability to pull away to a 10-percent-plus lead in national poll averages tracked by Real Clear Politics, 2016 U.S. presidential candidate front-runner former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has continued to maintain her dominance, with her influence being seen with down-ballot candidates like in the New Hampshire Senate race between incumbent Kelly Ayotte and fellow Democrat Maggie Hassan.

In the latest polls, Clinton, Trump, and outsider Evan McMullin would seem to have the only clear paths to victory in any states, as reported by Real Clear Politics. McMullin, a Mormon, is still trailing Republican nominee Donald Trump in Utah, but has won in individual polls, is tied with Clinton in averages, while leading Stein and Johnson handily. It would not seem that McMullin has any clear path to the presidency.

Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump, 48.0 to 41.9 percent in national averages. The three most recent were conducted by IBD/TIPP Tracking ending October 21, Qunnipiac ending October 18, and L.A. Times/USC Tracking ending October 21. Perhaps of concern to Democrats might be the fact that the two polls that ended on the 21st, two days after the third presidential debate, were each ties. The Quinnipiac poll had Clinton up by 6 percent.

The Inquisitr has previously reported on the seeming positive reaction of certain stocks, including those issued by PayPal Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: PYPL), Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), and Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), to a perception of increased certainty of a Clinton administration. Shares of each are up sharply over the past week.

Part of this perception may be reaction to polls for down-ballot candidates, with the New Hampshire Senate race being just one example. According to MSNBC, one poll has the incumbent U.S. senator trailing Democratic challenger Maggie Hassan by 8 percentage points, 46 to 38, with others showing a “tighter race.”

In July 2015, just after Donald Trump announced his candidacy, Kelly Ayotte led Hassan by 8 percentage points, 50 to 42. The announcement that she would vote for Trump and subsequent back-pedaling was portrayed as possibly contributing to the wide swing in her support.

Election odds-maker Five Thirty Eight currently gives Hillary Clinton an 85.8 percent chance of a November 8 election win, down marginally from yesterday. Donald Trump is seen having a 14.2 percent chance of winning.

Five Thirty Eight also gives the Democratic Party a 68.2 percent chance of regaining control of the Senate, compared with a 31.8 percent chance that the Republicans can maintain it.

U.K. bookmaker William Hill is currently quoting a $1 payoff on a $6 bet for a Hillary Clinton win. A Donald Trump win pays $4 on a $1 bet. Jill Stein pays 500 to 1; Bernie Sanders, 66 to 1; Gary Johnson, 250 to 1; and Evan McMullin, 500 to 1. While betting on the outcome of presidential elections in the United States is prohibited, changes in posted odds overseas are closely watched as an indication of current levels of support for candidates.

Appearing on ABC, Las Vegas bookmaker Jimmy Vacarro expressed a view that betting on elections in the United States may be several decades away, but that it is likely to eventually be accepted.

“But it’s premature to assume that Clinton is locked into a 6- or 7-point win,” Nate Silver with Five Thirty Eight writes. “It’s narrowly premature because there’s been only one full day of polling since the final debate, and that isn’t necessarily enough time to show any further shifts in the race. And it’s broadly premature because there’s still a lot of uncertainty in the outcome.”

It has been suggested that most of what has been released by WikiLeaks, as previously reported by the Inquisitr, pertaining to the Clinton campaign has been genuine, but uninspiring and that a possibility exists that salted documents could be released at the last possible moment before election day, alleging some unforgivable misgiving, later to be proven totally false, somehow handing the presidency to Donald Trump.

Russia has been accused of being a source of disinformation campaigns similar to this, against the Ukraine, as reported by the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Hillary Clinton has been vocal in her attempts to connect Donald Trump to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

[Featured Image by Pool/Getty Images]