Poll: Clinton Jumps Out To Biggest Lead Yet Over Trump

In a recent poll, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has pulled ahead of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in a big way.

The new Reuters/Ipsos survey, released on Aug. 23, found that Clinton leads her Republican opponent by 12 percent among likely voters — 45 percent to 33 percent.

Clinton has led Trump in polls throughout much of her presidential campaign, although this lead is the strongest she has had in this poll throughout the last several weeks, with Clinton maintaining a 3- to 9-point lead earlier in August.

While Clinton’s strong lead may not be surprising considering her general dominance in the polls throughout the last several months, the survey did reveal atypical levels of potential third-party support, with 22 percent of voters saying that they would not pick either candidate, given the choice between the two major party contenders. This number is significantly higher than comparable findings from the 2012 election.

“Those who are wavering right now are just as likely to be thinking about supporting a third-party candidate instead, and not between Clinton and Trump,” said Tom Smith, who directs the Center for the Study of Politics and Society at the University of Chicago.

The survey also included another four-way poll between Clinton, Trump, Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein, in which Clinton remained in the lead. In that poll, 41 percent of likely voters said they would vote for Clinton, 33 percent backed Trump, 7 percent supported Johnson and 2 percent supported Stein.

Though Johnson and Stein poll comparatively lower on a national level than the two major party candidates do, low favorability and low rates of enthusiastic support could spell trouble for Clinton and Trump, particularly with young voters. According to FiveThirtyEight, Clinton has an average of 41 percent support from 18- to 29-year-olds. By contrast, Barack Obama won votes from at least 60 percent of this demographic in both 2008 and 2012.

Trump polls even worse among young people, with only 20 percent of the same demographic saying they would support him — approximately the same amount as those who say they will vote for Johnson. If he takes in a similar vote percentage from young people, it will be the worst performance by a major party nominee with voters under 30 since 1952.

Sources: Reuters, FiveThirtyEight / Photo credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr