Clinton’s lead over Trump in the polls is now poised to surge.

With the exit of Sanders, she’s likely to gain vote of most of his supporters

WASHINGTON — The Hillary Clinton surge is coming.

The likely Democratic nominee’s virtual tie with Donald Trump is poised to become a solid lead, with potential to grow even more.

The former secretary of state is up 3 percentage points in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, but without rival Bernie Sanders in the race, she could be up 8.

Clinton clinched her party’s nomination Monday, according to The Associated Press tally, even before voters cast their ballots in six states, including California and New Jersey. Once Sanders leaves the race, history says her popularity should start climbing.

Jeff Horwitt, senior vice president at Hart Research Associates, tells why with these numbers from recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal polls:

• Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, was viewed negatively by 80 percent of Sanders voters in this year’s primaries. Nine percent saw Trump positively.

• Clinton has a 66 percent to 17 percent lead over Trump among Sanders voters.

• Two-thirds of Sanders voters say they’ll vote for Clinton more as an anti-Trump vote than a pro-Clinton vote. But it still counts as one for Clinton.

That means, in the May 15-19 survey, Clinton’s 46 percent to 43 percent lead could jump to 51 percent to 43 percent, said Horwitt, whose firm conducts the survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff.

Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, and his supporters are hardly conceding their effort is over. Sanders has vowed to fight through the July convention, hoping to woo the superdelegates, who are not bound by their state’s results.

“We believe Bernie will still win,” said Chuck Idelson, spokesman for National Nurses United, a strong Sanders supporter. Activist groups, including the nurses, plan to meet in Chicago June 17-19 to discuss strategy. Sanders backers also plan a “people’s convention” in Philadelphia on July 23.

Love or hate Clinton, the Sanders voters are likely to be motivated eventually to vote for her. The only uncertainty is when Sanders and his backers will move, however grudgingly, to the former secretary of state.

“They ultimately dislike the opponent more than their own candidate,” explained Steve Mitchell, chairman of a Michiganbased research and communications firm that conducts polls.

Republicans have already benefited, at least on paper, from a similar reluctant movement to their presumptive nominee. A month ago, the “Never Trump” movement was pinning its hopes on a wellfunded effort by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, or perhaps a more mainstream thirdparty bid.

Today, GOP party stalwarts are largely falling in line. They might not be overly enthusiastic, but Republicans in mid-May, after Trump became the presumptive nominee, backed him 86 percent to 6 percent, a jump from the month-earlier 72 percent to 13 percent.

Some obstacles to a quick Clinton boost do loom. The longer Sanders waits to endorse, the more it could cost Clinton. In 1980, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., won five of the season’s final eight primaries, including California.

Kennedy waited until the party convention in August to concede, and President Jimmy Carter’s awkward effort to shake his hand became a symbol of a divided party.

In 1968, a Democratic Party bitterly divided over the Vietnam War was ripped apart even further by the August convention, this time because of violent protests and a violent official reaction. Sen. Eugene McCarthy, D-Minn., the anti-war movement’s hero, waited until a few days before the election to support nominee Hubert Humphrey. Humphrey, trailing Richard Nixon throughout the fall, surged in the closing days but fell slightly short.

There are some similarities in 2016 to those years. Sanders, similar to McCarthy and Kennedy, has strong backing from the party’s liberal wing and younger voters.

That raises another question. “Will they vote? That’s the bigger challenge,” said Horwitt. Turnout among 18- to 29-yearolds dropped significantly between 2008 and 2012.

Liberals, too, could be so fed up with Obama administration trade policy they’ll turn to Trump, who advocates getting tougher with other countries on trade.

In swing states, such as Michigan, where Sanders won the Democratic primary, that could make a difference.