The latest ABC/Washington Post poll of likely voters in the 2016 Presidential race has Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump by four percentage points, which, given the margin of error, is actually a statistical tie.  Quite amazing when you consider all the negative issues Trump has faced in the past two weeks, and his failure to deliver a knockout blow in either of the first two debates.

Even Secretary Clinton is baffled by the fact that she isn’t running away in the polls, as are most of the media pundits.  But, the truth is, Ms. Clinton is not exactly the dream candidate that most of the country wanted to see either, and some polls have her un-favorability ratings running at almost 2-1 over those who view her as favorable.

That would certainly seem to provide at least some of an advantage for Trump, but his favorability numbers are not much better, and may have even dropped more in light of the recent glut of sexual assault allegations levied at him.

With new charges against Trump coming out almost daily now, and Wikileaks dumps raining even more charges of scandalous behavior against Clinton, the office remains up for grabs, despite having arguably the two worst candidates in US presidential campaign history.

A shout out to the Libertarian Party candidate, Gary Johnson, who is running a good race, but with his poll numbers coming in below 10 percent, the best he can hope is to win a few electors, and he has virtually no shot to be the next president.

So barring one of the top two candidates dropping out of the race, our next president will either be Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.  Democrats will vote for Clinton and Republicans will vote for Trump, although many of the latter are saying they will not support the Republican nominee.

The undecided voters will once again decide the fate of the nation for at least the next four years, possibly the next eight.  There is a lot at stake, so the decision should not be made without those considerations.

Trump had an excellent chance to win the election.  A large section of the voting public says they are not happy with the direction the country is going, and Trump, the outsider, could have swayed many to vote against the current path that Clinton is certain to continue.

So, with that many unhappy voters, the better question may be why isn’t Trump running away with the election?  The answer is Trump himself, or it could be his campaign staff, but the former is more likely.

Trump has been handed a golden opportunity, with the economy growing more slowly than most feel it should be, with Obamacare insurance costs rising significantly and options for healthcare falling, the appearance of corruption surrounding Secretary Clinton, both in her public and private life, and more.

But instead of hammering that message home to the voters, Trump spends most of his campaigning time defending himself against challenges to his character.  And by doing so, he doesn’t come off as the leader the country is looking for.

The public is more concerned about the challenges facing the nation than Trump’s indiscretions of the past.  The fact that his is still close to Clinton in all the polls bears that out.

Surely his campaign advisors are telling him he has the public’s interest, and he should stay on message about “Making America Great Again,” at least one would expect them to stress that point.

A president is going to be criticized by the press, his opponents, and almost every protest group of the American people, and how he responds to that criticism defines his character.  He can lash out at the accusers, or he can ignore them and stay on point.

For the next few weeks, Trump should leave the denying of these accusations to his underlings, and he should be telling the American people how he plans to make their lives better in the next four years.  If he can do that, he can show the public that he has what it takes to be a president.  If not, he won’t get the chance to prove it.

He may not win the election in the coming days, but if he continues to rant and rave, and not provide answers to the voters, he can certainly lose it.