New Quinnipiac Poll Puts Kasich Up and Down

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Gov. John Kasich’s campaign for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination is touting a new Quinnipiac Poll released this morning that shows in a head-to-head matchup Ted Cruz would lost to Donald Trump by nine points, 46%-37%.

The poll also shows Cruz and Trump would lose a general election race against Hillary Clinton while Kasich would win, 47% to 39%.

Still, the poll finds Trump and Clinton are clear leaders in hypothetical Republican and Democratic primaries nationwide. Results are:

• Republican: Trump at 43%, with 29% for Cruz and 16% for Kasich.
• Democratic: Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders, 50%-38%.

But Sanders and Kasich run best in head-to-head general election matchups among all American voters, topping other candidates by wide margins and locked in a dead heat with each other. These results are:

• Clinton tops Trump 46%- 40%;
• Clinton gets 45% to 42% for Cruz;
• Kasich tops Clinton 47%-39%;
• Sanders beats Trump 52%-38%;
• Sanders tops Cruz 50%-39%;
• Kasich gets 45% to Sanders’ 44%.

Trump and Clinton top the “no way” list as 54% of American voters say they “would definitely not” vote for Trump, with 43% saying no to Clinton, 33% nixing Cruz, 27% saying no to Sanders and 14% saying no to Kasich.

“Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton may have the overall leads among primary voters, but there is not a lot of love in the room as a big percentage of Americans say of the front- runners they could take ’em or leave ’em,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. “Though short on delegates and short on time, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Gov. John Kasich can hang their hats on the fact that if folks went to the polls today, they’d fare better than the other candidates.”

“Scared.” That’s the one word 117 American voters use to describe how they feel about the possibility of Trump as president, in an open-ended question. Another 46 voters say “disaster,” with 45 voters each for “frightened” and “terrified.” Another 42 voters say “horrified.” The first positive word, “good,” is seventh on the list, from 36 voters.

“Disaster” is the word 68 voters use to describe their feelings about Clinton as president. It goes back and forth after that: 51 voters say “good;” 49 voters say “scared;” 43 voters say “disappointed” and 41 voters say “hopeful.”

Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,451 registered voters nationwide from March 16-21 with live interviewers calling landlines and cell phones. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

CLICK to read complete poll results.

Pictured: Gov. John Kasich campaigning in Youngstown March 14.

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