Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has pulled ahead of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by a statistically significant five percentage point margin in the popular vote, according to a nationwide poll by Rasmussen Reports released on Thursday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — In recent months, dozens of nationwide polls have shown a double-digit lead by Clinton gradually shrinking, with Trump having eliminated rival candidates for the Republican nomination.

​"Trump earns 42 percent support to Clinton’s 37 percent when likely US voters are asked whom they would vote for if the presidential election were held today," Rasmussen said in a press release accompanying the telephone survey results.

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At the same time, a raucous battle between Clinton and Democratic rival, US Senator Bernie Sanders, continues to distract attempts by Democrats to focus the attention of voters on efforts to defeat Trump, political analysts say.

At the beginning of May, Rasmussen reported that Trump led Clinton by 41 percent to 39 percent, within that poll’s margin of error and therefor considered statistically insignificant.