Bernie Sanders would defeat any potential Republican challenger in general election matchups, a new
Quinnipiac University national poll released Thursday said, while Hillary Clinton would either tie or trail Republicans.
The closest potential GOP challenger would be Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who would still trail the Vermont independent senator by 45-41 percent, according to the telephone poll of 1,342 registered voters conducted between Feb. 10-15.
The poll, which carried a margin of error of 2.7 points, found Sanders defeating:
- Donald Trump, 48 - 42 percent;
- Texas Sen. Ted Cruz,49 - 39 percent;
- Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, 47 - 41 percent;
- Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush 49 - 39 percent;
- Kasich 45 - 41 percent.
Clinton's numbers were:
- Over Trump, 44-43 percent;
- Under Cruz, 46-43 percent;
- Under Rubio, 48 - 41 percent;
- Under Bush, 44-43 percent;
- Under Kasich, 47-39 percent.
- Kasich beating Clinton 47 - 39 percent.
If former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg joins the race as a third-party candidate facing Sanders, trump, or Cruz, he'd hurt Sanders more than the GOP challengers, the survey found:
- Sanders and Trump tied 38 - 38 percent, with 12 percent for Bloomberg;
- Sanders over Cruz 39 - 33 percent, with 14 percent for Bloomberg.
The poll showed Sanders with the highest favorability rating of any candidate, Democrat or Republican, and the highest scores for honesty and integrity, caring about voters needs and problems and sharing their values.
He was tied with Clinton and Trump on strong leadership qualities and fell behind Clinton and Bush for having the right kind of experience to be president:
In favorability ratings:
- Sanders, 51 - 36 percent;
- Kasich, 35 - 18 percent;
- Rubio, 39 - 37 percent;
- Clinton, 37-58 percent;
- Trump, 37-57 percent;
- Cruz, 36-45 percent;
- Bloomberg, 21-26 percent;
- Bush, 37-48 percent.