Story highlights
Two surveys have good news for the Clinton campaign
Donald Trump has been mired in controversy since the conventions
Hillary Clinton has widened her lead over Donald Trump in a pair of new national polls published on Thursday, as the Republican nominee ends one of the worst weeks of his campaign.
Clinton opened up a 15-point margin in the McClatchy-Marist survey, 48% to 33%, which was conducted as Trump feuded publicly first with the Muslim parents of a slain American war hero and then House Speaker Paul Ryan, one of the GOP’s most popular and powerful figures.
Last month, Clinton held a narrow 3-point advantage, 42%-39% in a McClatchy-Marist poll.
In an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll, Clinton’s edge is 9 points (47% to 38%), cushioning what was a 5-point advantage in early July. A CNN/ORC poll this week showed Clinton with a similar 9-point edge over Trump nationally.
RELATED: Clinton ahead in key battleground states
The added option of third-party candidates Jill Stein and Gary Johnson had little effect on the head-to-head spreads. In the McClatchy-Marist poll, Clinton’s lead shrunk by only 1 point, while she retained an identical 9-point lead in the NBC-WSJ survey.
The results mark the latest in a string of national and battleground state polls showing Clinton with a growing base of support and, on Thursday, hints that she could be making inroads with male voters.
Clinton nearly tied Trump among men in the NBC-WSJ poll and enjoys a 22-point swing – she now leads by 8 points – in the McClatchy-Marist survey. With women, she continues to enjoy an overwhelming advantage – 50% to 30% according to McClatchy-Marist and 51% to 35% in the NBC-WSJ results.
Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, a longtime Trump ally, told CNN Thursday night he didn’t believe the flagging numbers were permanent, attributing them to a post-Democratic National Convention bounce and “some events” that have occurred in the past week. Trump has recently feuded with the Muslim family of a slain US soldier and infuriated the Republican establishment by not endorsing House Speaker Paul Ryan.
“Donald Trump is a campaigner and a warrior,” Sessions told CNN’s Erin Burnett on “OutFront.” “The numbers had him up not long ago. He’s down some now and I think you’ll see a rebound, no doubt about it, heading into November.”
The NBC-WSJ poll of 800 registered voters had a margin of error of 3.5%. It was conducted from July 31 to August 3.
The McClatchy-Marist survey reached 983 registered voters between August 1-3 and was statistically significant within 3.1%.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified Alabama Sen. Jeff Session's state.
CNN’s Naomi Lim contributed to this report.