Hillary Clinton continues to have a lead over Donald Trump in national polls. | AP Photo Clinton leads Trump by 10 in national poll The Democratic nominee opens up a big lead as Trump muddles through controversy.

Hillary Clinton has opened up a 10-point national lead over Donald Trump in the Quinnipiac University poll of likely voters out Thursday, the latest sign of the Democratic nominee's sturdy momentum as Trump wades through self-inflicted controversies.

Among those likely to vote in November, Clinton grabbed 51 percent in a head-to-head matchup, while Trump earned 41 percent.


The survey entered the field last Thursday, a day after Trump shook up his leadership structure, naming pollster Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager and Breitbart executive Steve Bannon as CEO. Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman, resigned Friday following a cascade of negative stories about his work for the pro-Kremlin former president of Ukraine, as the Trump team sought to articulate the candidate’s shifting message on immigration, arguably his signature campaign issue.

Clinton’s double-digit lead, more than double her previous weekly RealClearPolitics average of 5 points, comes even as the Democratic nominee faced renewed scrutiny over the connections between her family’s foundation and her work as secretary of state.

The Democratic nominee drew wide levels of support from women (60 percent to 36 percent), those between the ages of 18-34 (64 percent to 29 percent), and 35-49 (53 percent to 39 percent). Trump, meanwhile, holds a smaller advantage among men (48 percent to 42 percent) and a large lead over Clinton among whites who do not have a college degree (58 percent to 35 percent).

Independent voters prefer Clinton slightly, 46 percent to 41 percent, while likely voters between the ages of 50-64 are split, with 46 percent behind Clinton and 47 percent backing Trump. Voters 65 and older supported Trump 49 percent to 45 percent.

While Trump holds an 11-point edge among all white voters (52 percent to 41 percent), there remains a significant difference between white men and white women.

But even as 59 percent of white men backed Trump to 32 percent for Clinton, the survey shows that Trump still has some ground to make up with white women, a group that Mitt Romney won by 14 points, according to exit polls. Clinton leads Trump 49 percent to 46 percent among white women likely to vote, holding a more comfortable 62-point lead (77 percent to 15 percent) among non-white voters.

Nine in 10 voters surveyed said their minds are made up about their decision, with roughly the same share of Trump and Clinton supporters indicating that level of certainty.

In line with nearly every single state and national poll, neither candidate is seen favorably by the public, nor most backers of either candidate said their vote is more an expression of opposition than support. In the case of Trump voters, 64 percent said they are mainly voting for him over Clinton because they oppose her; among Clinton voters, 47 percent said the same about Trump.

In a four-way matchup, Clinton grabbed 45 percent to Trump’s 38 percent. Another 10 percent said they would vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson, with 4 percent for Green Party candidate Jill Stein. In that matchup, 34 percent of independents supported Trump, 33 percent for Clinton and 19 percent for Johnson, with 9 percent for Stein.

The poll was conducted via landlines and cellphones from Aug. 18-24, surveying 1,498 likely voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.