Survey: Clinton Leads Trump Nationally by 11 Points

Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton leads Republican Donald Trump by 11 percentage points (46% to 35%) among likely voters in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal tracking poll, which found a solid majority (72%) saying Trump's recently revealed comments about women were either inappropriate, but typical of some men (31%) or completely unacceptable (41%).

With the third-party candidates removed, Clinton's lead in the polls grows to 14 points. That is the largest margin since NBC/WSJ began polling the pair last September.

The poll was taken Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 8 and 9), after The Washington Post reported on a tape of lewd comments Trump made about women to then Access Hollywood host Billy Bush, but before Sunday night's second presidential debate.

A majority (52%) of all respondents said the tape should be a campaign issue, while 42% said it shouldn't, according to the poll.

Looking at the races for control of Congress -- where Republicans hold the majority both the Senate and the House -- 49% of all respondents said they'd like to see Democrats in power again, compared with 42% who chose the GOP. That is up three percentage points from a month ago and the biggest Dem advantage since the October 2009 government shutdown, according to NBC/WSJ.

The poll was of 500 registered voters and has a margin of error of 4.6 percent for likely voters and 4.4% for all respondents.

NBC said it will also release a post-debate poll in the next few days.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.