Hillary Clinton favourite to win US presidential race not Donald Trump, new poll shows

Hillary Clinton continues to be the favourite in the 2016 US presidential election, leading Donald Trump by 11 points in a new poll.

Clinton recently became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and has since maintained her lead over the presumptive Republican nominee Trump. The US goes to the polls on 8 November, before which both the parties are trying hard to win over voters.

The online survey, conducted between Monday and Friday this week by Reuters/Ipsos, showed 46% of likely voters will support Clinton in the upcoming presidential election, while 34.8% will back Trump. 19.2% of the 1,276 respondents do not support either of the presumptive candidates. Trump, who became the presumptive Republican candidate in May, has been trailing behind Clinton for most of the year, but with the election drawing closer, he has closed the double-digit gap.

Ahead of the November election, both the parties will reportedly hold conventions in July to woo voters. The Republicans will run their conventions from 18 to 21 July and the Democrats will hold their conventions between 25 and 28 July 2016.

Clinton, the former secretary of state, defeated party rival Bernie Sanders in four of six nominating contests to become the presumptive Democratic nominee and now has the backing of President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and other party leaders. However, Sanders has disputed her claim, citing pending votes from superdelegates.

On the other hand, billionaire Trump has been drawing criticism for his controversial remarks over sensitive topics like Islam, terrorism, North Korea and nuclear warheads. He has also been ridiculed by many for his lack of knowledge in world affairs and diplomatic issues. However, despite all the criticism, he managed to lead the Republican nomination race and could soon be formally declared the GOP nominee.

Recently, Trump was caught in an argument with party leaders over his now-defunct Trump University. He faces allegations of defrauding thousands of people through the university. However, denying the allegations in a lawsuit, the businessman-turned-politician counter alleged that presiding US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel was biased against him.