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A new ABC News-Washington Post poll shows Hillary Clinton’s lead over Donald Trump has closed to just 5 points and it’s partly due to the two third-party candidates also on the presidential ballot.

The poll revealed that Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson and Jill Stein of the Green Party have siphoned approximately five percentage points off of Clinton’s lead, resulting in the Democratic presidential nominee leading 46 percent to 41 percent.

During a special simulcast with The Tom Joyner Morning Show, Roland Martin spoke with Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher, President of Brilliant Corners Research & Strategies, about the shift in the polling data beginning to worry Clinton’s supporters.

Another area of concern deals with the African-American vote. “I think it’s fools gold to think that Hillary Clinton would do better than Barack Obama” did with White voters, Belcher said. According to the pollster, Clinton is doing better amongst college educated Whites.

Martin also contributed Clinton’s polling woes to the lack of campaign spending in the African-American community. He said, “The Clinton campaign is being aggressive when it comes to spending money trying to flip Republican White women. Many others say, ‘Look, you better ensure you are properly investing for Black folks because you’re spending a lot more time and energy trying to flip Conservative White women when your money will be better served trying to ensure massive Black, Hispanic young voter turnout.”

Tom Joyner Morning Show‘s Sybil Wilkes asked, “Do they get it yet?”

Martin responded: “I’ve talked to folks who have been talking to the Clinton campaign … No, they don’t get it.”

However, Belcher did make an argument for young African-Americans disillusioned by this year’s crop of presidential candidates: “If you want police to stop beating you around the head and shooting you in the streets in your communities, you have to exercise your political power.”

He added, Barack Obama is president of the United States because of Black power. If you want to stop what’s happening in your community, if you want to change what is happening in your community, exercise your power and hold these elected officials accountable.”

Watch Roland Martin, Cornell Belcher, and The Tom Joyner Morning crew discuss the gap narrowing between Clinton and Trump in the video clip above.

PHOTO CREDIT: Getty

Watch NewsOne Now with Roland Martin, in its new time slot on TV One.

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