Why Donald Trump's poll numbers are surging

The Trump Bump has arrived.

After wrapping up an acutely fractious primary in which Donald Trump and his opponents lobbed scores of personal, playground insults at one another, the presumptive GOP nominee has quickly unified the vast majority of Republican voters around one goal: defeating Hillary Clinton, his prospective Democratic opponent.


Entering the general election trailing by about 7 points, Trump has rapidly erased most of that gap: As of Friday, Clinton’s advantage was down to roughly 2 points, according to the HuffPost Pollster average. And some polls, like a Fox News survey out on Wednesday, show Trump inching ahead of Clinton.

The main reason for Trump’s surge over the past few weeks? He is earning increasingly larger shares of the Republican vote — even as some prominent GOP leaders, like House Speaker Paul Ryan, haven’t yet committed to supporting their party’s apparent nominee. But rank-and-file Republican voters are lining up behind Trump in large numbers, closing the gap with Clinton’s support among Democrats, which had been higher during earlier stages of the campaign.

“Republican voters are consolidating around Trump, and it’s been beneficial to him not to have other Republican opponents constantly attacking him,” said Democratic pollster Geoff Garin, who advises the pro-Clinton super PAC Priorities USA.

The data point to a close race in the fall, with about a dozen or so states likely to be decisive in the Electoral College — all consistent with recent history

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/donald-trump-poll-surge-223419