Poll: Hillary Clinton Opens Eight Point Lead Nationally

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton holds an eight point lead over GOP nominee Donald Trump following a bad week for Republicans, according to a new Morning Consult poll.

Clinton leads Trump 41 percent to 33 percent when Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, who has 9 percent, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein, at five percent, are factored in, according to the results.

The poll comes after Trump’s difficult week, where he faced backlash over his response to the Khan family — the Muslim parents that spoke at the Democratic National Convention about their son who was killed in combat serving in the U.S. military.

However, despite Trump’s spat with the Khans, the poll found military families still favor Trump over Clinton. Forty-eight percent of military households support the New Yorker while only 36 percent support the former secretary of state. “That’s virtually unchanged from the previous week, before the Khan controversy heated up,” notes Morning Consult.

Trump was also criticized for not endorsing top Republicans up for reelection, including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, earlier in the week. However, Trump did endorse Ryan as well as Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) later in the week.

In a head-to-head match up, Clinton leads Trump 46 percent to 37 percent.

Trump’s support among Independent voters decreased by four percent, down to 34 percent from 38 percent. Roughly 34 percent of Independents also say they support Clinton.

Trump’s unfavorable numbers increased three percentage points from the week prior, as now six out of 10 voters say they view him unfavorably. Clinton’s unfavorable numbers remain unchanged with 55 percent of respondents holding an unfavorable view of the former secretary of state.

The Morning Consult results also reveal more voters hold a favorable view of Trump’s running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence over Clinton’s running mate Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA). Thirty-two percent of voters view Pence favorably, while only 28 percent of voters have a favorable view of Kaine, according to the poll results.

The poll surveyed more than 2,000 voters across the nation on Aug. 4 and Aug. 5. It has a plus or minus two percent margin of error.