title:  Heading Into The Convention, Clinton Maintains Comfortable Lead
text: With the Republican National Convention tomorrow, and the Democratic Convention next week, Hillary Clinton is maintaining a comfortable, average lead over Donald Trump (and that s with Trump s VP pick announced).Leading 46 to 41, Clinton maintains her advantage even after a month of serious setbacks and criticisms stemming from the FBI and Justice Department s decision not to indict her over the use of a private email server.NBC News  poll also shows that Clinton is thrashing Trump among black, Hispanic, female, and young voters, while Trump leads in (not surprising) whites and men. Surprisingly, Trump only leads men by seven points, while Clinton leads with women by 15 percent.As NBC has shown, these numbers have been virtually unchanged in a month. It seems Americans are settling for their candidates, and that s even before Clinton announces her running mate.And it s worth noting that Trump is hated far more than Clinton. While the media likes to remind the people about her  likeability issues,  they have been (not surprisingly) mum about Trump s. The NBC poll shows Trump, heading into the convention, with a 27 percent positive/60 percent negative rating, a net negative of 33 percent. Clinton, on the other hand, will walk into the Democratic convention with a 34 percent positive/56 percent negative, a net negative of 22 percent.Currently, only 38 percent of Republicans are satisfied with Trump as their nominee, while 54 percent of Democrats are satisfied with Clinton.A sizable chunk of the population hates Donald Trump more than Clinton. But only one candidate is constantly questioned on why people  hate  them.It s important to remember that at around convention time in 2012, in early September, President Obama was ahead of Romney by 5 points, according to Ipsos/Reuters Tracking (Obama won by 4 percent). Clinton is following the same trajectory as President Obama, and, again, that s without a running mate announced.But in the coming months after the conventions, out of the 127 national polls ran, Romney beat President Obama in 22 and tied in 15.Clinton is in a good position. But Democrats know all too well what happens when they get cocky. The only way to ensure Clinton beats Trump is to not underestimate his abilities and supporters, and to show up to the polls to vote.Featured image via Darren McCollester/Getty Images