Posted on 03/09/2016 10:12:46 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Last night, Donald Trump called on Republicans to unite behind him and declared that only he could defeat Hillary Clinton. A new NBC/WSJ poll out this morning disputes that claim — although the general election is still a long way off. Trump loses to both Hillary and Bernie Sanders by double-digit margins in this sample of 1200 registered voters, but Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz look much more competitive:
Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders would handily defeat Donald Trump in a general election match-up, while a clash between Clinton and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz or Florida Sen. Marco Rubio would be a toss-up, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
The poll shows that Trump, who frequently boasts in interviews and campaign appearances that he would beat Clinton in November, would lose a one-on-one contest against her by double digits. In a head-to-head fight, Clinton gets the support of 51 percent of registered voters compared to 38 percent for the real estate mogul.
For Sanders, the margin of victory would be even greater, the poll shows.
The Vermont senator gets 55 percent support in a hypothetical two-person race against Trump, while the GOP front-runner would get just 37 percent.
For the record, Rubio ties Hillary at 46%. while Cruz trails within the margin of error, 45/47. The pollsters didn’t ask about head-to-head matchups against Sanders for either of the two Republican Senators, which is too bad, as a Sanders nomination is still not out of the realm of possibility.
Readers should consider a couple of caveats in this poll. First, the sample leans toward desiring a Democratic president, 46/42, asked prior to the candidate questions (the sample overall is D+6). Second, head-to-head polling at this stage still carries a lot of emotional freight that may well disappear after the conventions, or at least diminish significantly. If Trump wins the nomination, he will have months to shift his approach for the general election and test whether he’s right about building a large coalition of disaffected non-Republicans.
However, the favorability numbers show why Trump struggles against the two Democrats, at least at this stage. Hillary gets a 38/51, or -13 favorability rating, in this poll; Sanders has a +7 at 43/36. Rubio has a -11 at 28/39, likely the product of his fierce and personal attacks on Trump, but Cruz does worse with -18 at 27/45. Trump, however, gets only 25/64 for a -39 rating, by far the worst in the field. Trump also does worst among all candidates for potential support in a general election at 32/67 (although not that far behind Cruz and Rubio), and also worst among Republican primary voters for support for the nomination at 56/43.
Given that, it’s hardly surprising that Trump does poorly in a general pool of registered voters — now, anyway. Would that change once the GOP infighting stops and Republicans accept Trump as the nominee? Maybe, but at that point the media will likely become entirely hostile to Trump and probably a lot less generous about air time, too. If Trump didn’t adjust by organizing effectively on the ground — and there’s still time to do that, especially with the RNC’s efforts already in place — then those negatives would likely drive Trump’s chances into the slim or none category.
Cruz/Fiorina 2016
I could live with that.
did NBS/WSJ have a poll out just before the SC primary showing Cruz ahead? Sounds like more establishment psychological warfare.
NBC............Nothing But Clinton...............
Just sayin'™
Trump is so nasty, vile, foul and dishonest that people would go with Hillary, a obvious crook and Sanders, a socialist, over him. Says a lot of how unlikeable Trump is.
if you can’t beat the contestants in the semi-finals, you can’t beat the person in the finals.
Apparently they polled the wrong state.............................
Nonsense.
Cruz is going to take most of the Blue States but that is about it.
350+ EV for Hillary
Trump does not absorb the energy hurled at him. He deflects it in a return reaction like a trampoline with a motorized kinetic report proportionate to the mass delivered.
LoL the same WSJ/NBC poll we saw yesterday showing Trump’s support crashing? These guys are clowns.
Well we know this isn’t worthy of discussion.
But what is, is the fact Sanders beat Hillary in Michigan. It doesn’t take much to do the math that this means the rustbelt states are seriously in play and Trump can bring them in.
Cruz fan logic:
A poll for an election 8 months in the future are accurate to the point where you can use them as cheap propaganda to try to get votes for Ted.
But polls for primaries a week from now showing Trump wiunning are inaccurate.
RE: Why is Cruz losing if he is so universally beloved by all these poll respondents?
Where in this particular poll does it show that Cruz is beloved?
It shows him losing to Hillary as well ( by much less, but still losing ).
Out and out liar, as well.................
This will all be explained away/dismissed by all the FR Trumpers.
...and Carter led Reagan in March 1980 by 20-30 points.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_polling_for_U.S._Presidential_elections
RE: But polls for primaries a week from now showing Trump wiunning are inaccurate.
Can you show me where a Cruz fan actually said that?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.