Hillary Clinton Is Finally Winning Male Voters

Just hours before Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump square off in the final presidential debate, a new poll suggested that the former Secretary of State is finally starting to win over men, voters without a college degree, and white women. The Bloomberg Politics poll, released Wednesday, shows that Clinton is holding on to a nine-point lead nationally among likely voters, while Trump's support among men, white women, and those the poll calls "less educated" has slipped. For the first time this election, more men say they are likely to vote for Clinton than Trump.

In a "hypothetical two-way race," Bloomberg reported, 46 percent of men support Clinton, compared to 44 percent who support Trump. Clinton's prospects look even better overall, with 50 percent of all likely voters saying they plan to vote for her, and just 41 percent saying they support Trump. Those numbers don't change significantly when third-party candidates are added into the equation.

“This poll shows movement toward Clinton with all the right groups it takes to win — including men and those without a college degree,” pollster J. Ann Selzer told Bloomberg. “Their alignment with Clinton is a formidable change in the algebra.”

That changing algebra could spell trouble for the Republican Party's hopes of reclaiming the White House — or even holding on to control of the U.S. House.

Since the beginning of his campaign more than a year ago, Trump's rise has been fueled by his most stalwart supporters, who tend to be white, male, and earning less than $50,000 a year. While the Trump base has evolved slightly in the past year, race and educational attainment have been the most likely predictors of who a voter will support, according to the Pew Research Center.

But after the release of a 2005 video where Trump is caught on a hot mic bragging about kissing and groping women without their consent, and after the allegations of several women who claim Trump assaulted them, the billionaire businessman's grip on the general electorate seems to be slipping. Trump has repeatedly denied that he has ever sexually assaulted anyone, instead suggesting that the multiple women who have come forward are part of a vast conspiracy that's out to destroy him.

Unlike the second debate, which saw the candidates try to win over undecided voters in a town hall format, Wednesday's debate will be structured like the first, with six 15-minute sections of questions, answers, and rebuttals. Chris Wallace of Fox News will moderate the debate, and has already selected the topics, according to Politico. Both candidates will have the opportunity to discuss immigration, the economy, entitlements and debt, foreign policy, the Supreme Court, and their own (or each other's) fitness to be president.

Trump's braggadocios style might seem tailor-made to pull out a victory at a debate moderated by a conservative anchor who, until recently, reported to Roger Ailes, the former Fox News CEO who's now a key advisor to the Trump campaign.

But these latest poll numbers offer some hope that with just 20 days before the election, Americans may finally be seeing the Republican candidate for, as Clinton described in the second debate, "who Donald Trump is."

So before turning on the debate tonight, take a deep breath, channel Clinton's meme-worthy shimmy, and trust that it's all going to be OK.