Clinton’s lead over Trump widens in national poll

by Jesse Byrnes - 06/14/16 7:17 AM ET

Hillary Clinton’s lead over presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has widened to 7 points nationally, according to a tracking poll released early Tuesday.

Clinton leads Trump, 49 percent to 42 percent, among registered voters in the NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll conducted last week.

{mosads}The polling was conducted as Clinton secured the number of delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and won the backing of top Democrats including President Obama.

Meanwhile, Trump faced a barrage of criticism, including from top Republicans, over his comments on a federal judge presiding over lawsuits against Trump University who he claimed was biased due to his Mexican heritage.

Clinton’s numbers have ticked upward in the poll since the end of May, while Trump’s have inched downward, putting daylight between the two.

An increase in support among moderates, men and white voters contributed to Clinton’s edge in the new poll.

Clinton still gained on Trump when the poll factored in third-party candidates, too, with Clinton at 42 percent, Trump at 38 percent, Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson at 9 percent and likely Green Party nominee Jill Stein at 5 percent.

The survey of 10,604 adults, including 9,355 registered voters, was conducted online June 6–12. It has an overall margin of error of 1.4 percentage points.

Tags 2016 presidential election Donald Trump Gary Johnson Hillary Clinton