Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is edging Hillary Clinton ever so slightly in a new poll, leading her by one point in a survey of likely voters.
The CNN/ORC poll of likely voters found 49 percent would vote for the Trump/Pence ticket in a two-way contest and 48 percent would cast their ballots for the Clinton/Kaine.
In a four-way contest where Libertarian candidates Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein are factored in, Trump leads by two points.
CNN conducted a similar poll following the Democratic National Convention, but this time, the poll focuses only on likely voters rather than registered voters.
Since then, Trump has improved his lead with registered Independent Party voters (by an impressive 17 percent) and has strengthened his support with registered Republican voters.
Trump also has voter enthusiasm on his side -- 58 percent of voters are either extremely enthusiastic or very enthusiastic to vote, while only 46 percent of Clinton voters feel the same.
Some polling questions were on Clinton's side, with voters preferring her temperament over Trump's. More than half of voters said they thought Clinton's temperament was better suited for the job.
Both candidates struggled in the favorability category, with Clinton leading Trump in an unfavorable opinion with voters ever so slightly at 57 percent to Trump's 56 percent.
Fifty-six percent of voters also believe Clinton would be better suited to handle foreign policy issues, compared to Trump's 40 percent.
Trump leads voters on a number of policies, like handling the economy and dealing with terrorism, while voters feel Clinton would handle minority issues better than Trump would.
The CNN/ORC survey's results paint a slightly different picture than the same poll did several months ago, but timing is a huge factor in the two polls. CNN conducted the last poll following the Democratic National Convention when Trump was engaged in a back-and-forth battle with the family of a military veteran killed in combat, a factor which likely contributed to lower polling numbers.
Since then, polling has improved for Trump, especially when the pool is narrowed from registered voters to likely voters.
Tuesday's poll is just one of many back-and-forth surveys released recently detailing the battle between Clinton and Trump. Several other recent polls have shown Clinton ahead of Trump, but the CNN poll seems to indicate Trump's voter base strengthening before the November election.
The telephone poll of 1,001 likely voters was conducted by ORC International on Sept. 1-4, 2016. The margin of error based on the total sample is +/- 3 percent.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
