They're not exactly the Nixon era "silent majority," but both Republican and Democratic pollsters claim that there is a secret vote for Donald Trump showing up in some polls.

The Trump campaign on Sunday stated flatly there is a "big hidden Trump vote" in the nation.

And during the recent Democratic convention, a top pollster agreed, saying there is a "secret Trump vote."

Longtime Republican pollster and Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway explained on the Today show that the hidden vote is seen when anonymous online polls are compared to phone call interview polls where people have to be more public in stating who they support.

For example, the new Reuters poll had Trump and Hillary Clinton just three points apart, where others that are phone survey based out Sunday showed a greater gap.

"The Reuters poll, which is an online poll, where Donald Trump is three points behind Hillary Clinton nationally, and I think that the important point to note there is that when you have online polls as opposed to telephone polls, Mr. Trump tends to do better, and that's because the online polls approximate the ballot box, where you're issuing your vote privately," she said.

"We think there's a big hidden Trump vote in this country," said Conway, who added that Trump internal polls project "tighter" results in battleground states.

Her comments echoed those from Democratic pollster Celinda Lake who during the Democratic convention said that her side sees a secret Trump vote among white males.

"I worry that there is a bit of a secret Trump vote," said the influential pollster at an event attended by Secrets.

She has proof revealed in polls that find more white male support when live people are doing the interviewing and less support for Clinton in anonymous online surveys.

"The pattern is in the online surveys, even if you control for demographics, Trump does three to nine points better than in telephone surveys. So it really does suggest that there is a secret vote for Donald Trump," said Lake.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com