Hillary Clinton Continues to Pull Ahead in Polls While Donald Trump Puts Up Some Roadblocks

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is leading Republican rival Donald Trump by significant digits in nearly every national poll, but the GOP nominee is still presenting some challenges, according to a slew of recently released polls.

A new round of national and state polls shows the Republican presidential nominee is being punished for his words in a 2005 video followed by several accusations that he had inappropriately touched, if not assaulted, women in the past — all of it falling just ahead of Wednesday's third and final presidential debate.

Trump's struggles have increased Clinton's lead over the GOP nominee to 12 percentage points among likely voters in a new poll released Monday, up 8 points from a similar survey conducted just three weeks ago. The Monmouth University poll released Monday afternoon puts Clinton ahead of Trump, 50 percent to 38 percent, in a four-way race that also includes Libertarian Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Jill Stein.

That large gap was also found in a CBS poll released on Monday, in which Clinton’s lead over Trump has expanded to nine points nationally. In a four-way race, 47 percent of likely voters support or lean towards Clinton, while 38 percent support Trump. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson gets 8 percent of likely voters, while Green Party candidate Jill Stein receives 3 percent of the vote. In a two-way match-up where third party candidates are not included, Clinton leads Trump 51 percent to 40 percent among likely voters.

Echoing that double-digit national lead with just more than three weeks until Election Day is a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted entirely after the second presidential debate. In a four-way race, Clinton holds an 11-point lead over Trump among likely voters, 48 percent to 37 percent, with Libertarian Gary Johnson at 7 percent and the Green Party's Jill Stein at 2 percent.

However, in an ABC News/Washington Post poll released over the weekend, Clinton only leads Trump nationally by 4 points, 47-43 percent among likely voters, putting the New York businessman within the margin of error.

In key states, Trump continues to give Clinton trouble:

• In Ohio, Trump leads Clinton 48 percent to 44 percent, according to a CNN/ORC poll. However, with a 3.5 point margin of error, they remain virtually tied.
• In North Carolina, Clinton tallied 48 percent support to 47 percent for Trump, according to the same CNN/ORC poll.
• And in Nevada, in the same poll, Clinton is ahead of Trump 46 percent to 44 percent, among likely voters.

In another sign of shifting opinion, as Trump continues to ramp up his rhetoric about a "rigged" election, 41 percent of voters — 73 percent of Republicans and 17 percent of Democrats — say that Trump could lose the election because of voter fraud, according to a Politico/Morning Consult poll released on Monday.

Trump also appears to be having an impact on how some Americans see U.S.-Russia relations, as almost half of his supporters consider Russia to be an American ally or a friendly nation, according to a new poll released on Monday. While 49 percent of Trump supporters see Russia as a friend to the U.S., only 24 percent say they view Russia favorably, according to the Politico/Morning Consult poll.

In recent national polling, Clinton leads head-to-head match-ups against Trump, with the Democrat holding 48.4 percent support compared to 42 percent for the New York businessman, according to averages compiled by RealClear Politics.

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