Alarming new poll shows neck-and-neck with Hillary Clinton in public support

WASHINGTON - According to the latest polls taken by Reuters/Ipsos poll over the course of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this week, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is now almost neck-and-neck with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in terms of public support after trailing the latter by 10 percentage points at the start of the week.

The July 18-22 national online poll found that 41 percent of likely voters supported Clinton, while 38 percent supported Trump. Given the poll's margin of error of about 4 percent, Trump and Clinton might even be considered to be about even in the race.

The last time Trump drew about even with Clinton was in mid-May, after his last two rivals for the Republican nomination dropped out of the race and party leaders started to get behind his campaign.

The New York businessman-turned-politician formally accepted the Republican nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election during a convention at which the party at times struggled to show unity.

The week started with a tussle between convention leaders and delegates who wanted to change the party's rules to derail Trump's nomination. Later in the week, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who dropped out of the nomination race in May, refused to endorse Trump in a prime-time speech.

Yet, on the final night of the convention, Republicans gave Trump a standing ovation as he pledged to take back a country that he said is plagued by crime, terrorism and ineffective leadership. However, key Republicans like 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and the entire Bush family, which has given the Republican party two former presidents, were conspicuous by their absence at the event.

Party conventions are partly meant to introduce the candidate to the country, and nominees tend to get a boost in opinion polls afterward. In 2012, then-Republican nominee Mitt Romney rose by about 5 percentage points in the Reuters/Ipsos poll after his party's convention.

Clinton, who is expected to be formally nominated by her party at its convention in Philadelphia next week, has led Trump most of the year in the poll.