--- title: Donald Trump Poll: Republican Gains on Hillary Clinton in 2016 Race description: Donald Trump is starting to close the gap in a potential general election matchup with Hillary Clinton canonical: https://time.com/4003525/donald-trump-poll-hillary-clinton-2016/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-19T19:37:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:05.634Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Gains on Hillary Clinton in 2016 Poll og:description: He trails Clinton by just six points og:url: https://time.com/4003525/donald-trump-poll-hillary-clinton-2016/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta23ff45de84aba71/6988601ecf40a863a4c3f4eb/trump-hillary.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: trump-hillary og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Gains on Hillary Clinton in 2016 Poll twitter:description: He trails Clinton by just six points twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta23ff45de84aba71/6988601ecf40a863a4c3f4eb/trump-hillary.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Gains on Hillary Clinton in 2016 Poll ## Video: Watch The Best Quotes By Donald Trump [Watch (HLS stream): Watch The Best Quotes By Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7MzTpVq2.m3u8) (1:21)  _Published 2015-07-23. Donald Trump's Most Ridiculous Quotes_  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Aug 19, 2015 7:37 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, left, in New York and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton in Las Vegas. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, left, in New York and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton in Las Vegas.Seth Wenig, John Locher—AP  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Aug 19, 2015 7:37 PM UTC Donald Trump is [starting to close the gap](http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/19/politics/2016-poll-hillary-clinton-joe-biden-bernie-sanders/index.html) in a potential general election matchup with Hillary Clinton, according to a new poll, even amid [growing concerns about his electability](http://time.com/4001608/donald-trump-poll-republican-2016/). The CNN/ORC survey released Wednesday found Trump, who is leading national and early-state polls in the Republican presidential primary race, trailing Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, by just six percentage points. Clinton was ahead of Trump in a hypothetical general election by 16 points in July. It’s just the latest indicator that Trump continues to defy the usual laws of political gravity, successfully shaking off one series of controversial remarks after enough. And it comes as the enduring controversy over Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was Secretary of State continues to chip away at how voters view her. Clinton also leads Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker by six points. She’s ahead of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush by nine points. The poll of 897 registered voters, conducted Aug. 13-16, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4003525/donald-trump-poll-hillary-clinton-2016/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4003525/donald-trump-poll-hillary-clinton-2016/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Gains on Hillary Clinton in 2016 Poll","datePublished":"2015-08-19T19:37:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:58:05.634Z","description":"He trails Clinton by just six points","url":"https://time.com/4003525/donald-trump-poll-hillary-clinton-2016/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta23ff45de84aba71/6988601ecf40a863a4c3f4eb/trump-hillary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta23ff45de84aba71/6988601ecf40a863a4c3f4eb/trump-hillary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"trump-hillary","caption":"Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump leaves the courthouse after serving on jury duty in New York on Aug. 17, 2015. 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