Clinton leads Trump by 10 points in White House matchup: poll

[NEW YORK] Republican Donald Trump trails Democrat Hillary Clinton by 10 points in the 2016 presidential campaign, according to a poll released on Tuesday, showing little change from a week ago and suggesting his comments about a Mexican-American judge had yet to affect his standing in the race.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll came after several days in which Trump faced sharp criticism over his insistence that a federal judge who was born in Indiana to Mexican parents was biased in a case involving the celebrity billionaire.

But the fallout from Mr Trump's comments appeared to have done little to help Mrs Clinton build her lead over the presumptive Republican nominee.

The online survey showed that 44.3 per cent of likely voters said they would vote for Mrs Clinton, compared with 34.7 per cent who would support Mr Trump. A further 20.9 per cent said they would not vote for either candidate. The results were little changed from last week's survey.

The poll was conducted from Friday to Tuesday, starting shortly after Mr Trump's first comments about US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is overseeing fraud lawsuits against Trump University, the New York businessman's defunct real estate school.

Mr Trump has suggested that Judge Curiel's heritage is influencing the judge's opinion about the case because of Trump's campaign rhetoric about illegal immigration.

US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan called Mr Trump's comments textbook racism on Tuesday, while Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Mr Trump should stop attacking minority groups.

Bowing to pressure from fellow Republicans, Mr Trump said on Tuesday he would no longer talk about the judge, adding that his previous remarks about Curiel had been misconstrued.

Other events, including news that Mrs Clinton had secured enough delegates and superdelegates to become the first female presidential candidate of a major US political party, occurred toward the end of the poll.

The poll included 1,261 respondents and had a credibility interval of 3.2 percentage points.

For most of the year, Mrs Clinton has maintained an edge over Mr Trump in the Reuters/Ipsos poll of likely voters. That edge briefly disappeared in May after Trump's remaining rivals for the Republican nomination dropped out and party leaders started to line up behind his campaign.

Mr Trump's level of support has since eroded as he sparred with his party's leadership and continued to be dogged with questions about Trump University.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll differs from others that are often days removed from when their data was collected. As a result, the Reuters/Ipsos poll often detects shifts in opinion well ahead of other surveys.

REUTERS