“If we had party unity, we couldn’t lose this election to Hillary Clinton… The people are very angry with the leadership of this party, because this is an election that we will win 100 percent if we had support from the top. I think we’re going to win it anyway.”

— Donald Trump, in an interview with Reuters.

A new Democracy Corps (D) survey shows Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump, 50% to 38%, with Gary Johnson at 5%.

Key finding: “There is a chance to translate Clinton’s emerging landslide into a wave down ballot. In a simulated contest where the Republican congressional candidate argues they are needed as an independent check on Clinton, the Democrats move into a 9-point lead in the congressional match-up after the Republican is attacked.”

Washington Post: “To make things more excruciating, Election Day happens to be scheduled on the latest possible day this year. America votes not on the first Tuesday in November, but on the first Tuesday after a Monday in November — i.e., any time between Nov. 2 and Nov. 8. Because November 1 falls on a Tuesday, we have almost an entire extra week of campaigning this election. In fact, it’s the latest election date since George Bush faced off against Michael Dukakis in 1988.”

Jeff Greenfield: “It’s become just about all anybody can say: ‘I can’t wait for this election to be over.’ It also is very likely to become a textbook case of: ‘be careful what you wish for.’ If you think this contest has demonstrated fault lines in our political system, I have news for you: Come January, we may all be standing close to the San Andreas fault of government dysfunction.”

Here are the latest state polls from the presidential race:

Minnesota: Clinton 47%, Trump 39%, Johnson 6% (Mason Dixon)

North Carolina: Clinton 46%, Trump 39%, Johnson 8% (NYT/Siena)

Michigan: Clinton 49%, Trump 41%, Johnson 3% (Mitchell Research)

Arizona: Trump 46%, Clinton 45%, Johnson 1% (Monmouth)

South Dakota: Trump 44%, Clinton 37%, Johnson 7% (Keloland)

Priorities USA, the top super PAC backing Hillary Clinton, has raised more money than any super PAC in history, scooping up nearly $175 million to finance its efforts, the Washington Post reports.

Rick Klein: “If you believe Donald Trump’s version of the race, or something in its vicinity, he’s down but not out. Lacking another debate and trailing Hillary Clinton in resources, he needs something dramatic to change directions – or at least get those on the sidelines suited up on his behalf. His overriding message in recent days has been about the ‘rigged election’ – a rallying cry for anger, though not necessarily voting.”

“He is, of course, attacking the polls he once touted at the top of all his big speeches. He has also, in recent days, threaten to sue his accusers, along with the usual jumps on headlines – Wikileaks revelations, Obamacare rates, etc. The freewheeling style has gotten him this far. But it’s hard to discern a strategy behind Trump’s campaign style now, with two precious weeks still to play with.”

New York Times: “When women run for political office, they are just as likely as men to be elected. The main reason they are so underrepresented is that they don’t run in the first place.”

“The so-called ambition gap has a few causes, researchers say. Women are less likely than men to be encouraged by parents, teachers or party leaders to run — yet they are also less likely to run without being prodded. They underestimate their abilities and assume they need to be much more qualified than men to run for the same office.”

Charlie Cook: “For sev­er­al weeks many Re­pub­lic­an can­did­ates and op­er­at­ives have been fret­ting that Don­ald Trump’s mis­be­got­ten can­did­acy could cause the bot­tom to fall out for GOP can­did­ates in Sen­ate, House, gubernat­ori­al, state le­gis­lat­ive, and oth­er down-bal­lot races. While their con­cerns were le­git­im­ate, it seemed too soon for the GOP to pan­ic. After all, the Don­ald Trump brand and the Re­pub­lic­an Party brand were cer­tainly not one and the same. Hil­lary Clin­ton’s neg­at­ives were so high that a land­slide seemed un­likely. And in quite a few races the Demo­crat­ic can­did­ates for some of these of­fices were not ex­actly of top shelf.”

“So while pan­ic should not be the GOP’s at­ti­tude right now, ex­treme worry seems ap­pro­pri­ate. The bot­tom has not fallen out for can­did­ates down the bal­lot, but many Re­pub­lic­an can­did­ates are see­ing their num­bers turn to purple or even blue. One vet­er­an Re­pub­lic­an poll­ster said privately on Monday morn­ing that he felt ‘sick to his stom­ach.’ In some cases, can­did­ates are weighed down by their as­so­ci­ation with Trump. In oth­er cases, Trump is caus­ing nor­mally stal­wart Re­pub­lic­an voters to lose heart. They see the GOP pres­id­en­tial nom­in­ee go­ing down in flames and don’t want to be part of a Hil­lary Clin­ton coron­a­tion, so they’re con­tem­plat­ing not vot­ing at all. When people re­port a lack of en­thu­si­asm about vot­ing, that of­ten res­ults in their drop­ping out as “likely voters” in opin­ion polls, caus­ing the op­pos­i­tion can­did­ate’s sup­port levels to bal­loon.”

David Frum: “Gestural politics are just ways of evading responsibility. ‘Don’t blame me, I voted for McMullin.’ But choices are judged by their consequences, and the consequences here are stark: If not Hillary, then Trump. If not Trump, then Hillary. Since it can’t be Trump, it must be Hillary. You understand why people might evade that unwelcome reality. But you didn’t get where you are by evading realities. You face them, you meet them, you make the best of them. You’ll hope for the best, but at least you’ll know you did all you could to prevent the worst.”

Cook Political Report: “History shows that races in the Toss Up column never split down the middle; one party tends to win the lion’s share of them. Since 1998, no party has won less than 67 percent of the seats in Toss Up. While the 2016 election has broken every political science rule and trend, we’d be surprised if this becomes one of them.”

“As such, we are increasing the range of expected Democratic pick ups to five to seven seats. This means that we feel that the prospect that Democrats will have at least 51 seats is greater than the odds of a tied Senate, or of Republicans somehow holding their majority.”