Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton has a 25-point lead on her Republican rival Donald Trump according to a recent US election poll. A four-way race between Clinton, Trump, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein from pollster Siena on Real Clear Politics on 15 August puts the Democrat candidate on 50 points to Trump's 25, with Johnson on 9 and Stein on 6 with New York voters, with a race by Elway Poll for Washington State showing Clinton on 43, Trump with 24, Johnson on 7 and Stein with 4.

Meanwhile a head to head race between the two on 12 August by the LA Times/USC shows Clinton a point ahead of Trump.

Trump has seen a significant downturn in support in the polls over the past few weeks, following an uptick in ratings following the Republican National Convention (RNC).

However, a week after the RNC, comments made by Trump about a speaker at the Democrat National Convention – a Muslim father of a US fallen soldier – caused a backlash against Trump among GOP members and voters, demonstrated in the polls.

After Khizr Khan spoke at the DNC about his son Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq, Trump hit out at the Khan family, stating in an interview transcript with ABC, shared on his website, that Khan's wife Ghazela was not allowed to talk, stating: "She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me. But plenty of people have written that. She was extremely quiet. And it looked like she had nothing to say."

His most recent speech on tackling terrorism is intended to steer Trump back on course with voters, with more detailed policy on tackling groups such as Isis reportedly planned for later on in the week.