Worrying, but it's not yet time to see Dr Nitschke. The pneumonia issue obviously had an impact as well as the 'basket of deplorables' comment (although I can't understand how any moderate would be offended given that White Supremacists and other wingnuts well deserve the label). The health issue would obviously abate if Clinton continues to campaign hard and Trump better keep on using his antibacterial handwashes or else he'll cop it too. Perhaps biological weapons, i.e. babies held out by proud Trump supporters, might bring him undone.
But current polling is probably of little interest anyway. The 1st debate takes place next Monday. To say it's an important event is downplaying its significance. It's going to be a monster. It will be just about the most watched event ever. Even Americans who aren't interested in politics will tune in to see what Trump does. If Trump faceplants, end of game. If he does well, end of game. The question is, what metric will swinging voters use to assess his performance? If he brings a low content but highly-colourful game, will style trump content? Perhaps debating and political experts will give the nod to Clinton while swinging voters will give it to Trump.
The difficulty for Clinton is that she may only get one shot at it. If Trump does well in the 1st debate, he may well refuse to turn up to the last 2. He's already laying the groundwork, saying that Anderson Cooper, the CNN presenter who is to co-moderate the 2nd debate, is biased against him and should be dumped. I wouldn't even exclude the possibility of pulling out of the 1st debate if he thinks he's doing well enough but I suspect that depriving the public of that spectacle might create a backlash.
But current polling is probably of little interest anyway. The 1st debate takes place next Monday. To say it's an important event is downplaying its significance. It's going to be a monster. It will be just about the most watched event ever. Even Americans who aren't interested in politics will tune in to see what Trump does. If Trump faceplants, end of game. If he does well, end of game. The question is, what metric will swinging voters use to assess his performance? If he brings a low content but highly-colourful game, will style trump content? Perhaps debating and political experts will give the nod to Clinton while swinging voters will give it to Trump.
The difficulty for Clinton is that she may only get one shot at it. If Trump does well in the 1st debate, he may well refuse to turn up to the last 2. He's already laying the groundwork, saying that Anderson Cooper, the CNN presenter who is to co-moderate the 2nd debate, is biased against him and should be dumped. I wouldn't even exclude the possibility of pulling out of the 1st debate if he thinks he's doing well enough but I suspect that depriving the public of that spectacle might create a backlash.