Hillary Clinton falls behind Donald Trump in new national poll by Red Oak Strategic

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives a thumbs up during a campaign rally in Estero, Florida, September 19, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has opened up a narrow lead over his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, a new poll shows, signaling the end of the former secretary of state’s months-long dominance in terms national support

The survey, released by right-leaning Red Oak Strategic on Monday, revealed that the New York businessman had managed to close the gap with Clinton and lead her by 2 points, 35 percent to 33 percent.

Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson was third with 8 percent support while Green Party nominee Jill Stein was not featured in the poll.

Around 24 percent of the participants said they either had another candidate in mind or were yet to select any.

In the poll’s previous version from early September, Trump was behind the former first lady 31 percent to 34 percent.

Clinton did not stand a chance in a head-to-head matchup either, according to the poll, as Trump was leading her 51 percent to 48 percent. Clinton held a similar lead in the poll’s previous iteration.

Hillary Clinton speaks at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 19, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Interestingly, about 41 percent of the participants said they had voted for President Barack Obama in the 2012 election, while only 34 percent opted for the Republican ticket Mitt Romney.

This was the first time that Trump was leading Clinton in a Red Oak Strategic survey, since the company began tracking the race in August.

Over the past few days, nearly all polls have indicated a tightening race between Clinton and Trump at national and state levels.  This is while we are nearly 50 days from the vote.

According to the latest CBS News Battleground Tracker poll issued Sunday, for example, the pair was tied at 42 percent in 13 battleground states.

Clinton’s lead shrunk to less than one point in the latest RealClearPolitics average of national polls.

The Democratic nominee’s recent health issues are likely to have affected her polling performance. Unanswered questions about the true nature of the Clinton Foundation along with Clinton’s email fiasco are some of the other issues that might have led to the decline in support.