Primary season has ended, and Hillary Clinton is heading into the general election with a clear lead over Donald Trump, new national polling shows.
A slate of recently released surveys all show Clinton ahead of Trump, although her edge ranges from 2 percentage points in an online Morning Consult poll to 9 points in a phone survey from the American Research Group.
The results of three other polls fall in the middle: Phone surveys from CNN/ORC and Monmouth University show Clinton up by 5 and 7 points, respectively, while NBC/SurveyMonkey's online tracking poll gives her a 6-point lead.
HuffPost Pollster's model, which combines all publicly available polling data, currently shows Clinton with an average lead of more than 7 points, with 45 percent to Trump's 38 percent.
That represents a shift from earlier in the month, when other surveys indicated a much closer race.
Trump claimed in December that his numbers "go way up" after tragedies. However, his standing in the polls has dropped in the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, earlier this month -- a time when he also faced criticism for making disparaging remarks about a Latino judge.
NBC's polling team attributes the shift in part to independents souring on Trump.
"This week, 36 percent of Independents said they support Clinton and the same number said they support Trump," they write. "In the past, however, this group of voters has generally preferred Trump over Clinton."
Members of both parties, in contrast, have largely lined up behind their candidates.
“Clinton has the advantage as the general election campaign kicks off, particularly in key swing states," said Patrick Murray, the director of Monmouth University Polling Institute. "However, all signs point to 2016 turning out the most polarized electorate in memory.”
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