Republican nominee Donald Trump gained on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in a new national poll released Sunday, cutting in half her lead in the presidential race in the course of a week.

Mrs. Clinton led Mr. Trump by 3 points, 43 percent to 40 percent, in the Morning Consult poll. She enjoyed a 6-percentage point lead in the same poll’s head-to-head match-up the previous week.

The race had not been as close since late July, when the poll showed a 3-point lead from Mrs. Clinton over Mr. Trump, 43 percent to 40 percent.”

In a four-way race, Mrs. Trump’s gains on Mrs. Clinton put him within the poll’s 2-point margin of error, 39 percent to 37 percent. Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson took 8 percent and Green Party nominee Jill Stein garnered 3 percent in the four-way race.

The race tightened as Mr. Trump made an aggressive appeal to minority voters and Mrs. Clinton accused him of aligning himself with white supremacists, the Klu Klux Klan and neo-Nazis.

“Trump’s outreach to African American voters appears to be falling flat among that demographic, with only 5 percent of black voters saying they will vote for Trump; 79 percent of African American respondents say they will vote for Clinton, with 16 percent undecided,” said the pollsters.

The poll found independent voters split 35 percent for Mrs. Clinton, 34 percent for Mr. Trump and 31 percent undecided.

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