William Cummings

USA TODAY

Republican nominee Donald Trump trails his Democratic opponent by six points among likely voters ahead of next week's debate, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday.

The poll was conducted after a tough stretch in which Clinton was sidelined with pneumonia and came under fire for referring to Trump supporters as "deplorables."

In a four-way race, the poll shows Clinton leading Trump 43% to 37% with Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson getting 9% and Green Party candidate Jill Stein at 3%. In a two-way race, Clinton leads 48% to 41%, according to the poll.

"Despite arguably the worst few weeks of her candidacy, the fundamentals still point toward a Hillary Clinton victory," Democratic pollster Fred Yang, who conducted the poll with Republican Bill McInturff, told NBC News.

"Something that hasn’t happened would have to happen" for Trump to win, McInturff told The Wall Street Journal.

In a two-way race, Clinton continues to lead among blacks (81% to 7%), women (51% to 37%) and young voters (50% to 34%), while Trump remains ahead among whites (49% to 41%) and men (46% to 44%), NBC News reports.

The good news for Trump out of the poll: those surveyed think he would do a better job with the economy (46% to 41%), he is more trustworthy and honest (41% to 31%), and 49% to 47% favor a candidate who would bring major change to the way government operates, according to NBC News.

The bad news for Trump: Clinton leads on immigration (50% to 39%), who would make a better commander-in-chief (48% to 33%), who should be in charge of nuclear weapons (51% to 25%), terrorism and homeland security (44% to 43%), temperament to be president (56% to 23%) and being experienced enough for the White House (60% to 23%).