Republican nominee for president of the United States Donald Trump continues to trail Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that was released on Friday afternoon. The poll, which was conducted from September 23-29 and included 2,501 likely voters from all 50 states, had a margin of sampling error of two percentage points.

Traditionally, this particular poll’s margin of sampling error has been around three percentage points, so this one is more accurate than previous versions. It also contains 2,501 participants, which is significantly more than the usual total of fewer than 2,000. It was conducted solely online, and participants were selected based on their voter registration status and intention to vote in November’s election.

“Democrat Hillary Clinton has a 5 percentage point lead over Republican Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential race, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Friday, roughly the same advantage she has held all month. The survey result showed little movement following Monday night’s presidential debate, the first of three debates before the Nov. 8 election. The Sept. 23-29 national tracking poll showed that likely voters support Clinton over Trump by 43 percent to 38 percent, while another 19 percent said they would not pick either candidate.”

Even with Trump having a poor debate, he did not lose much ground in this particular Reuters/Ipsos poll. As the Inquisitr recently reported, Clinton led Trump 41 points to 37 points in a poll that was conducted from September 16-22. The poll included 1,559 likely voters and had a margin of sampling error of three percentage points.

While certain online polls showed Trump being the winner of Monday’s debate, most political commentators and experts agree that Clinton was the winner. Trump appeared flustered at certain points during the debate, and he appeared to dance around certain questions. Regardless, he did have solid answers when it came to questions regarding trade, and many experts believe that Trump’s first 30 minutes were solid.

Trump did not completely bomb the debate, but he did say a few things that many consider controversial. One of the biggest talking points over the past week has been the issue of stop-and-frisk. Trump believes that stop-and-frisk policing should be used in inner cities in order to prevent crime. As CNBC reports, stop-and-frisk has been ruled unconstitutional, and many believe that it unfairly targets minorities. Clinton claimed that stop-and-frisk does not work to reduce crime, but there is controversy regarding its effectiveness.

A separate poll from Reuters also shows that the majority of Americans believe Clinton won the debate. As usual with Reuters’ polls, it was conducted online and contained 2,000 responses. The results showed that 56 percent of Americans believe that Clinton won the debate, while only 26 percent felt that Trump was the winner.

When Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein are added to the poll, the race gets even tighter. Clinton leads Trump 42 points to 38 points. Seven percent support Johnson, while only three percent support Stein. As reported by the Inquisitr, Johnson is hoping to take part in the second debate, but he needs an average of 15 percent support across various polls. He had been polling as high as 10 percent support, but he appears to be fading after a few questionable interviews.

The debate seems to have helped Hillary Clinton in the polls. But how is she not ahead by more? https://t.co/6CRR9ALQbN by @nytimesCollins — NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) October 1, 2016

While the first debate is always important, it is not going to decide the election. In 2012, Mitt Romney was the unanimous winner in the first debate against President Barack Obama. Obama’s performance was less than stellar, but he recovered and eventually won the election.

With the second debate scheduled for Sunday, October 9, Trump still has a chance to win over undecided voters with a strong performance. Many believe that he was unprepared for the first debate, and it showed during his answers to certain questions. If Trump does his research and better prepares, things could be much closer this time.

[Featured Image by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]