Roanoke College Poll: Clinton leads Trump; tied with Cruz, Rubio

ROANOKE, Va., Feb. 3, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Potential Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump (52%-35%) and is statistically tied with Republican hopefuls Ted Cruz (45%-41%) and Marco Rubio (46%-43%), according to The Roanoke College Poll. Democratic contender Bernie Sanders leads all three Republican front-runners, including Trump (55%-33%), Cruz (49%-37%) and Rubio (48%-38%).

The Roanoke College Poll interviewed 524 likely voters in Virginia between January 18 and January 26 and has a margin of error of +4.3 percent.

While Clinton leads or is tied in the hypothetical 2016 matchups, her unfavorable ratings are very high at 51 percent (36% favorable and 13% mixed/don't know). Only Bernie Sanders' favorable rating is higher (40% favorable, with 31% unfavorable and 29% mixed/don't know). Donald Trump's unfavorable rating is the highest of all contenders (63%, with 22% favorable, and 15% mixed/don't know). Marco Rubio is also now underwater (29% favorable/32% unfavorable), but his mixed/don't know rating sits at 39 percent. The numbers for Jeb Bush (19% favorable/50% unfavorable/31% mixed/don't know) are even worse, while Ted Cruz (26%/38%/36%) has seen his favorable rating rise by 8 percent while his unfavorable has held steady.

"The little movement we see in the past two months is a mini-surge for Sanders and some regression for Rubio. It is also interesting that Cruz has improved his favorable rating, while keeping his unfavorable steady, although it remains high. Most Virginians would see a Clinton-Trump matchup as clearly the lesser of evils. The lesser evil right now appears to be Hillary Clinton," said Dr. Harry Wilson, director of the Institute for Policy and Opinion Research. "Obviously, the race is still very fluid, although the small number of undecided voters in these potential matchups suggests that the general election campaign—regardless of who the principals are—will be a battle for the two bases and a small slice of the electorate that may be up for grabs."

More information and methodology may be found at: http://www.roanoke.edu/about/news/rc_poll_feb_2016_presidential_politics

SOURCE The Roanoke College Poll

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