A Brexit bounce? Trump closes on Clinton

Donald Trump has closed on Hillary Clinton, according to one poll-of-polls that finds the Democrat's lead has fallen from an 6% to 4.8% since the Brexit vote.

A  Rasmussen survey even has the presumptive Republican presidential nominee taking a four-point lead.

Mr Trump's visit to Scotland last Friday to open a golf course was originally seen by US media as something of a blunder, given he was trailing in the polls and faced criticism for being far behind far behind Ms Clinton in fundraising and campaign organisation.

But with the surprise EU referendum outcome, the timing proved fortuitous. 

To many outside the US, Mr Trump's TV appearances seemed wobbly. At one point he appeared to be unfamiliar with the term "Brexit". At another, he praised the people of Scotland for "taking back their country", despite 62% of Scots voting to stay in the EU.

But details, details. The Brexit campaign's general themes of the haves vs the have-nots and anti-globalisation fell nicely for Mr Trump and his "outsider" themes.

Mr Trump has also attempted to make hay from a new Congressional report on the 2012 attack on a US diplomatic compound in the Libyan city of Benghazi, which left four Americans dead. Ms Clinton, who was Secretary of State at the time, says the report contains nothing new. Either ways, it has disappeared from the news cycle after a couple of days.

However, it's not yet clear if there is a genuine bounce, or if it will last.

While the Rasmussen poll has Mr Trump ahead, others still have him trialing. Reuters puts the gap at 10 points (all polls quoted were taken entirely post-referendum).

And Ms Clinton remains ahead in all of the battleground states, including the "rust-belt" where Mr Trump's core anti-trade, tax-the-rich, raise-the-minimum-wage policies played so well in the primaries. A new Ohio poll shows the Democrat four points ahead in Ohio.

There is also the broader problem for Mr Trump (or Winston Peters or any other populist looking to riff on Brexit) that the UK is like to suffer an economic downturn, making it an unattractive poster boy.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump continues to face a barrage of controversies, both major and minor.

The New York Times reports a $US3000 get-rich course, for which Mr Trump fronted infomercials and lent his name, featured plagiarised coursework and was run by a couple who had been in trouble with regulators.

Left-wing publication Mother Jones, which has been running a scandal-a-day in its rollicking The Trump Files, has featured a claim by reporter Marie Brenner that Mr Trump poured a glass of wine down the back of her dress. Mr Trump earlier disputed Ms Brenner's account of their encounter at an event. The Republican nominee claimed he was in fact able to empty an entire bottle onto Ms Brenner.

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