Despite the liberal media spinning Hillary's non-apology as bringing her closer to the American public, it appears her presidential campaign took another shot to the chest this weekend. Not only does Bernie Sanders keep rising in the polls, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump leads Hillary Clinton head-to-head, garnering 45% support versus 40% of his Democratic rival, according to a new national poll. As Press TV reports, while the popularity of Trump campaign increased through the summer, Clinton could not improve her image among likely voters over her lack of transparency and trustworthiness as former secretary of state. According to a CNN/ORC sampling of national voters conducted in late June, just days after Trump entered the competition, 59 percent backed Clinton as opposed to 34 percent who supported Trump in a head-to-head matchup. In July, the same polling organization put Clinton at 57 percent to Trump at 38 percent with another one in August showing Clinton with 52 percent support and Trump with 43 percent. The Survey USA poll shows that Trump has also beaten Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) by 44 percent to 40 percent; Vice President Joe Biden by 44 percent to 42 percent; and former Vice President Al Gore by 44 percent to 41 percent. And now, as The new poll, conducted by Survey USA, marks a significant turnaround in the polls. Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump leads Hillary Clinton head-to-head, garnering 45 percent support versus 40 percent of his Democratic rival. This comes as another survey revealed Thursday showed Trump has hit a new high in the race to the Republican presidential nomination. According to the survey by Monmouth University, the businessman now enjoys a 30 percent support nationally. As Doyle McManus writes in The LA Times, I talked with Republican wise men last week — sober establishment strategists who have seen many presidential campaigns come and go — to ask them how long the improbable popularity of Donald Trump can last. Reassure me, I said: He can't actually win, right? Their answers surprised me. "It's not inconceivable," Vin Weber, a former congressman (and Jeb Bush supporter) told me. "It doesn't look as if he's going to implode any time soon…. It's hard for me to say this, but he actually seems to be getting better as a candidate." "Trump has put himself on the short list of five or six names who could win the nomination," said another GOP operative who insisted on anonymity because he's working for one of those other candidates. "It's not impossible that he could win." Until a few weeks ago, the conventional wisdom held that Trump was merely a summer fling for angry voters, a protest candidate whose insults and braggadocio would soon impose a ceiling on his support. But recent polls suggest that Trump has raised that ceiling. ... On balance, a Trump victory still appears unlikely; his conservative credentials are too weak, his political experience too thin. "I'm hearing people talk about him as if he were the inevitable nominee," Weber said. "We aren't there yet." But Republican Party's grandees are glumly acknowledging that America's love affair with Trump is more than a summer romance — maybe a lot more. * * *