Online . It seems appealing to say, oh, just have the Major Social Media Companies take a hard line approach to anything having to do with isis. But the fact is, that will end up blocking a lot of speech. Woodruff all that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by love me tender love me true we can like many, but we can love only a precious few. Because it is for those precious few that you have to be willingi to do so very much. But you dont have to do itu alone. Lincoln financial helps you provide for and protect your financial future, because this, is what you do for people you love. Lincoln financial youre in charge. Bnsf railway. Xq institute. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a moreit just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation fore public broadcasting. G. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. O thank you. Woodruff an emerging question in the president ial campaign who would be the better commanderinchief . Donald trump and Hillary Clinton will both make their cases tonight on a television special. Trump was out this morning, witp an early peek at his argument. Today, im here to talk too you about three crucial words that should be at center, always, of our Foreign Policy peace. Through. Strength. Woodruff Donald Trumps visit to philadelphia today was all about military policy. He called for big increases in defense spending to beef up the army, navy and air force after years of congressionally mandated spending limits. As soon as i take office, i will ask congress to fully eliminate the defense sequester. I will submit a new budget to rebuild our military. It is so depleted. Woodruff tonight, trump andm Hillary Clinton appear separately in a televised forum on national security. Meanwhile, Clintons Campaign unveiled a list of 95 retired generals and admirals backing her. That a came a day after trumps team touted a list of 88 endorsing him. Meanwhile, former president clinton stumped in orlando,cl florida, and called out trumps attacks on his wife, and the Family Foundation i mean, i saw where her opponent attacked my foundationp i think that is because he knew they were about to report that he used his foundation to givegi money to your attorney general, which is not legal. audience reacts woodruff trump has denied d that his donation of 25,000 dollars to support floridasdo Republican Attorney general pama bondi in 2013 was meant to influence her offices possiblei review of trump university. Meanwhile, there is fallout from trumps meeting in mexico last week with president pena nieto. It has drawn wide criticism in mexico, and today, the treasury minister resigned, amid reports he arranged the trump visit. Woodruff we will turn to the changing shape of the president ial race as reflected in the polls after the newsen summary. In the days other news president obama urged americans to learn more about the world, and to reject isolationism. He was in laos, where he touredh a centuriesold buddhist temple, and then held a town hall with youth leaders from across Southeast Asia. I believe that the United States is and can be a great force for good in the world. But, if youre in the United States, sometimes you can feel lazy, and think, were so big, we dont have to really knowto anything about other people. And thats part of what im p trying to change. Woodruff later, at a regional summit, the president met informally with philippinesl leader rodrigo duterte. The white house called off a formal meeting when duterte referred to mr. Obama with foul language. The philippines also used the summit to highlight chinast expansionism in the south china sea. Filipino officials released images said to show an increased number of chinese ships near a contested island. The summit issued a vaguely worded statement, but did not mention china by name. The United Nations reports intense new fighting in western syria has put at least 100,000 people to flight. Theyre fleeing homes in hama province, where islamist rebels launched an offensive last week, triggering Government Air strikes. An estimated 11 million syrians have fled since the war began in 2011. Many of those migrants have gone to europe, and germany alone took in one Million People last year. That has caused a political backlash. Ba but today, german chancellor g Angela Merkel went before parliament and insisted the country can handle the influx. The situation today is many times better than a year ago,s for everyone, but there remains a lot to do. Change is not a bad thing. And we especially and i can speak for myself who experienced german unification have seen how change can be a very positive thing. That will not change. Germany will remain germany, with everything that we love and treasure. Woodruff also today, britaia said it is building a wall at the french port of calais to stop illegal entries of migrantt through the channel tunnel. Back in this country the president has nominated a man who could become the first Muslim American federal judge. Abid riaz qureshi is a washington d. C. Lawyer. He would need senate confirmation, but it is unclear if he can get it before congresb goes home next month. On wall street, the Dow Jones Industrial average lost nearly a 12 points to close at 18,526. The nasdaq rose eight points, and the s p 500 slipped aan fraction. And, a woman who flew noncombat missions in world war ii, and died last year, was finally laid to rest today in Arlington National cemetery. Elaine harmon served with the wasps Women Airforce Service pilots. But last year, the Army Secretary ruled them ineligible for arlington, citing limited space. It took an act of congress to revoke that ruling. Still to come on the newshour the newest polls showing donaldt trump and Hillary Clinton in a dead heat; the two candidates views on Climate Change; chicagos struggle to stem its growing gun violence, and much more. Woodruff and now, we turn to politics, and a tightening race, both across the nation and in key battleground states. New polls indicate hillaryil clinton has a slight advantage, but donald trump is closing the gap in a few decisive states. Lisa desjardins has our report. D reporter theres a theme ina this weeks political headlines different polls with one conclusion nationally, the race between donald trump andd Hillary Clinton is getting closer. The big picture . Clinton leads by three points, according to the real clear politics polling average. That is half of her lead a month ago. In other words, her post convention bounce is over. She still has some key advantages, leading in states with a bonanza of electoral votes, like california and new york. She also has narrow leads in pivotal battleground states like colorado and virginia. Also in clintons favor some demographics. She is now far in front with at muchwatched group white, collegeeducated women, according to the washington post. Thats a reverse from 2012, when republican mitt romney won that group. But trump has strengths, too. T he is leading in the midwest overall, and in striking distance in michigan and wisconsin, which typically vote democratic at the president ial level. Trump has also widened his lead among older, white voters. And, among those without college degrees, he now leads clinton in at least 43 states. What might be most important here is the timing. These dynamics are in play 60 days out from the election. In the past four elections, this is exactly when breakaway shift began in the polls. For the pbs newshour, im lisa desjardins. Woodruff so what do all these polls tell us about whats driving voters . And nine weeks out from election day, what do the candidates need to do to drive their message home . We take a deeper look with dan balz, chief correspondent for the washington post; and Carroll Doherty, director for Political Research for the pew research center. And we welcome both of you back to the program. B dan, im going to start with you and your newspapers 50state0 poll out today. What do these numbers tell you about where the the race stands today . Judy, they tell us severalse important things. First, that the race has tightened from where it was after the conventions. On Hillary Clinton got a bigger bounce out of the Democratic Convention than donald trump got from the republican convention,i and that moved the polls early in midaugust. In but what weve seen since then is a tightening. Weve seen a different donald trump on the campaign trail. I i cant say what reason it is that its tightened, but it has tightened. So thats the first point. The second point is that our 50state poll underscores the degree to which Hillary Clinton still has an easier path to 270 electoral votes than donald trump does. P our numbers show that all she would need to do at this point is to add florida, and she would have 270 or more electoral votes. Donald trump has a long, longna way to go to get there. He has very few options. He has to thread the needle, and she has many choices and many options, both in an effort to block him in the states he has to win but also to open up the map in some area wheres shes might be able to expand. Woodruff and carrollro doherty, looking at the polls which you look at, which are a lot of them, including your own pew poll. What do you see there in terms of Hillary Clintons path . Nt well, i mean, we look at the national picture, and what you see is two candidates who just are viewed in extraordinarily negative ways, in different ways, but in negative ways. In our poll is in august, only three in 10 voters said Hillary Clinton would make a good or great president , and 27 said s donald trump would make a goodd or great president. There are more people voting against than for these candidates in some ways. So negativity is really driving a motivating factor in this election. Dan, given so, that and we have been hearing about this negativity for some time given that, how do you explain Hillary Clintonshi advantage . Well, i think at this pointli she has become less unacceptabla than donald trump is. You know, we have as carroll said, we have to keep this in negative terms. One of the things we looked at we asked a question of, do you think donald trump or Hillary Clinton, if they became president , would threaten the wellbeing of the United States . 95 of the people across thehe country when you aggregate it up believe that one or both would be a threat to the wellbeing. E so there is great concern. These two candidates. But because of many of the things that donald trump hasas said up to now, the record he has established as a candidate has raised more questions about him than Hillary Clinton. Hi woodruff and, Carroll Doherty, it is the case that questions are out there aboutbo donald trump, but there are also some opportunities for him,fo which show up in the polls. P absolutely. I mean, you know, 43 way he would make not just a bad but a terrible president. Te theres probably an opportunity to move some of these numbers a little more in his direction. And some of these key groups, such as whites whites college degrees, importantly who have been trending republican in recent years, i think there is an opportunity there possibly to bring some of those voters backs woodruff dan, we have already seen some movement on his part. As you mentioned, just since the conventions. Well, we have. In the polling which we did, we we did, online polling with the firm survey monkey, he does have strength in the midwest. There are a number of midwestern state, some of which have gone democratic for five or six f elections in a row where hes doing reasonably well and is within striking distance. So theres opportunity in those areas where the the electorate is older and whiter, and as carroll said, one of the problems he has at this point not not certainly that will be the the case onth election day, but right now, is with white collegeeducated voters and particularly white women,an who have college agrees. R mitt romney won whites with College Educations with 56 of the vote, and Hillary Clinton is winning that group at this point. So donald trump needs to do that. And the other thing he needs to do, which you would expect over time, he will have some success on, and that is consolidating the republican vote in the way that Hillary Clinton has already consolidated the democratic vote. Woodruff why has he had a hard time with the white, more educated voter and republicans . Well, and republicans, people forget that he won over a divided field, and didnt win a majority of all republican vote inic the primary. So some of this is normal consolidation, and then some ofo it is selfinflicted in terms ot some of the things he said and done since then. Ce woodruff just quickly, q Carroll Doherty, how undecide read how many voters out there are undecided . E how malleable is voters thinking at this point . The broadest range we havee been able to estimate maybe one in five. N its down from where its been. B you have to factor in the thirdr and fourthparty factor thisct time where they might go with gary johnson and jill stein but one in five, and thats less than prior electioning at this stage. Woodruff how many voters are there out there who still might make up their mind, might change their minds, go in another direction . Its very hard to estimate,i and i think polling doesnt hels us a lot on this. I mean, as carroll said, theree a sizable number who say they havent quite made up their mind or might change their mind. But as weve said, this is such an unhappy electorate, you haveu to think that most people kind of know where theyre going too end up, put theyre not theyre just so conflicted aboud the choice that theyre not really ready to say with any certainty that they will definitely do that. So i think it leaves some uncertainty out there in where these polls might move over the next 60 days. Woodruff and quick final question to Carroll Doherty about these thirdparty candidates, gary johnson, and jill stein. You can say at this point howin much of a factor they can make . History suggests that measures of thirdparty support would decline over time, perhaps, but this is a very v unusual election. We had gary johnson at 10 in our most recent national poll. His profile voters, very young, very young profile voters for gary johnson at this point . Rd as you say, and, dan, ill come back to you very quickly on this, typically the thirdparty candidates lose ground in thegr final weeks of an election. Thats usually true, but i think the issue is if gary johnson were able to qualify and hit that 15 threshold, that would change that because he would then have nationalav visibility that he doesnt have at this point. P but so far, hesion not quite at that level. Woodruff well its an election like weve never seen in so many ways. W thank you, both, dan balz, d Carroll Doherty. Thank you, thank you. Woodruff and next, we turn now to our periodic look at the major issues facing the country, and where the president ial candidates stand on them. Tonight, the cfocus is Climate Change. It is a subject that has gotten very little attention thus far during the campaign, even as it highlights one of the starkest differences between the candidates. Atn,st William Brangham has our report. Reporter this past weekend, the u. S. And china officially ratified the socalled parishe climate accords they are theco most substantial move by the worlds nations to put some limits on the Greenhouse Gas emissions that are driving Global Temperatures upwards. And upwards they keep going. 2016 is on pace to be the hottest year in recordedye history, breaking the record set by 2015, and 2014 before that. As many climate models predicted, a warming planet has coincided with increased heat waves and droughts, as well as more intense storms. Glaciers and ice sheets continue to shrink, sending sea levels upwards and threatening coastal communities all over the world w with potentially catastrophic, costly flooding. Michael oppenheimer is a climate scientist at princeton university. If we dont start with rapid Emissions Reductions and substantial emissionss reductions, we will pass a danger point, beyond which the consequences for many people anf countries on earth will simply become unacceptable and eventually disastrous. Reporter but the parisr accords only set voluntary capsa on carbon emissions. So how seriously the United States follows through on these commitments as well as its other efforts to curtail carbon will fall largely on the next president. And while there are plenty of policies where clinton and trump have different views, theres probably no greater divergence between them than on the issuete of Climate Change. One thinks it is real and pos