Hillary Clinton vs Donald Trump: Latest developments on US elections

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and her Republican rival Donald Trump are neck to neck in the race to the White House as the end game in the often divisive and bitter election is at hand, according to a selection of polls.

As the race comes to its close, media reports on October 6 said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had decided not to change its view on the closure of its investigation into the alleged Clinton email scandal after it reviewed the new emails found on disgraced former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner and close Clinton aide, and Weiner's now estranged wife, Huma Abedin's computer.

The RealClearPolitcs poll average put Clinton ahead of Trump by just 1.8 percentage points on November 6. The RCP polling average is a daily average of the latest publicly available election polls. A month a go, on October 6, the RCP average showed that Clinton was leading by 4.1 percentage points. By the middle of the month, on October 18, Clinton had taken a 7.1 percentage point lead. By the end of the month, after October 28, as the FBI said it would be looking into new emails in relation to the Clinton email probe, the numbers tightened.

Business Standard brings you the roundup of all the major developments in the US presidential election over the past 24 hours.

The FBI drops any new investigation into Clinton, after muddying the last phase of the election 

The FBI's decision to not reopen its investigation into Clinton's alleged email scandal (Read more)came at the 11th hour, as the Clinton campaign rushes to mitigate the damage already done. 

FBI Director James B Comey's letter sent to the Congress on July 28 in which he said that the FBI has reopened the investigation following discovery of some pertinent emails related to the Clinton investigation on the laptop of Huma Abedin, a close aide of the former Secretary of State, which was shared by Abedin's estranged husband Anthony Weiner, had put the Clinton campaign in a bind as it saw its substantial lead over Trump taking a beating. 

"Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton," Comey told leaders of the US Congress in a new letter, according to media reports.

"Since my letter (of October 28), the FBI investigation team has been working around the clock to process and review a large volume of emails from a device obtained in connection with an unrelated criminal investigation," Comey said. It was reported that there were 650,000 emails on that laptop.

Clinton and Trump are in dead heat, say polls

According to the McClatchy-Marist poll, Clinton, with 44 per cent, and Trump, with 43 per cent, "are in a fierce battle among likely voters nationally — including those who are undecided yet leaning towards a candidate or who have already voted".

According to the same poll, in September, Clinton had been leading Trump by six percentage points. 

The latest Fox News poll, conducted last week, put Clinton ahead of Trump by two percentage points, with Clinton leading at 45 per cent to Trump's 43 per cent, within the poll's margin of error.

However, not all polls paint a dismal picture for Clinton. The latest Washington Post-ABC Tracking Poll put Clinton ahead of Trump with a five-point lead, with Clinton at 48 per cent and Trump at 43 per cent. Clinton's lead comes after she ran mostly even with Trump early last week.
 

Clinton and Trump make a beeline for key swing states

With the election coming to its merciful end, Clinton and Trump have made a last-minute dash to key swing states to woo undecided voters, said media reports. (