By Leigh Ann Caldwell
A new national poll released Friday shows Hillary Clinton leading Donald Trump by ten points nationally.
Clinton is ahead of Trump 50 percent to 40 percent in a head-to-head match-up, according to a poll commissioned by End Citizens United, a liberal-leaning public interest group working to rid large money from politics.
In a four-way race with Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein, Clinton’s lead is reduced to 8 points. Clinton receives 45 percent to Trump’s 37 percent. Johnson polls at eight percent and Stein at 4 percent.
As concerns grow about Trump’s drag on Republicans running down ballot, this poll shows there’s reason for concern. Democrats lead Republicans when asked which party they’ d vote for in a Congressional race by seven points: 48 – 41 percent.
Trump is losing in the poll despite additional questions revealing that voters are concerned about the role of money in politics. While he is now accepting money from large donors, he has been the candidate who has criticized large campaign contributions as a corrupting influence in politics. Clinton has made fixing Citizens United one of her policy planks.
The poll, conducted by Normington Petts, found that 66 percent of respondents agreed that money spent by corporations in political campaigns plays a role in issues that impact their family.
And 73 percent of respondents had a negative opinion of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling that allowed corporations and unions to give unlimited amounts of money to political groups.
Finally, 89 percent of voters said they are concerned that foreign governments or foreigners have an impact on campaigns.
The poll asked 1,000 registered voters and the margin of error is 3.1 percentage points. Democrats make up 38 percent of respondents, independents 32 percent and Republicans 30 percent. And 34 percent of respondents were reached by cell phone.