Clinton boasts double-digit lead as support for Trump plunges

Hillary Clinton, the US presumptive democratic nominee, is holding a 12-point lead over her Republican rival, Donald Trump, as support for the latter tumbled in the past month, a poll released on Sunday showed.

Clinton enjoys 51 per cent of support among Americans, up by seven points from May, compared to Trump’s 39 per cent, which is down by seven points, according to the Washington Post-ABC news poll.

This is Clinton’s biggest lead over Trump since last fall and is a dramatic reversal from the May poll, in which Trump led Clinton slightly by 46 per cent to 44 per cent.

The poll discovered that 56 per cent of American voters believe Trump stands against their beliefs, while 64 per cent say Trump does not have the necessary credentials to be president.

Clinton’s lead over Trump narrows to 10 points by 47 per cent to 37 per cent, when the two third-party presidential candidates were mentioned in the poll.

Gary Johnson of the Libertarian party gained 7 per cent of support, while Jill Stein of Green party garnered only 3 per cent, according to the poll.

The controversial comments on women, minorities and Muslims made by Trump, a brash New York billionaire, may have contributed to his recent slide in the poll, as the majority of American voters regard them as biased.

Overall, 66 per cent of Americans think Trump’s remarks as “unfairly biased”, while only 29 per cent say they are not.

Even among the Republicans, 41 per cent think Trump’s remarks are “unfairly biased,” while 53 per cent say they are “not unfairly biased”.

Trump has been criticised recently by publicly attacking a Mexician-American judge overseeing the Trump University fraud case.

The poll found that 68 percent of Americans regard Trump’ s criticism of Judge Gonzalo Curiel as racist and 85 per cent say they are inappropriate.

Bernie Sander, US Democrat candidate, said on Friday that he would vote for Clinton, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, in November, saying stopping Donald Trump from becoming president must be an overarching goal.