HU poll: Clinton, Sanders would beat Trump in head-to-head matchups in Virginia

HAMPTON, Va., Feb. 26, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- While most recent presidential polls have emphasized the competition within the Democratic and Republican parties, a new Hampton University poll released today by HU's Center for Public Policy (CPP) asked Virginians their preference in potential head-to-head matchups in a general election in November.

If the election were held today, Ohio Governor John Kasich is the only republican contender whose numbers are better than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders, but it is a statistical dead heat. Kasich (45%) beats Clinton (44%) by one point in a head-to-head matchup; against Sanders (43%), Kasich (44%) also wins by one point.

When asked if the election for President were held today, in a head-to-head matchup between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, Virginians chose Clinton (48%) over Trump (39%) by 11 points. The outcome was similar for the match-up between Sanders (48%) and Trump (39%).
 
The poll points out that Clinton cannot seem to shake the stigma of being considered untrustworthy. When the question of Clinton's trustworthiness was posed --56% of the likely voters in Virginia surveyed in the CPP poll said Clinton is not trustworthy. Only 42% said that she is trustworthy. On that same question of trustworthiness Clinton's rival Sanders' polled significantly higher at 59%. That's an 18-point difference.  
 
At 28.5%, Trump hit rock bottom on the question of trustworthiness. In fact, Trump had the lowest trustworthiness rating of any Republican or Democratic candidate vying for the oval office.
Here's how those trustworthiness ratings shape up.

• Sanders
59%
• Clinton
42%
• Kasich
68%
• Carson
63%
• Rubio
51%
• Cruz
38%
• Trump
28.5

Clinton's favorability rating is only slightly better than her trustworthiness numbers at 43% which is three points higher than Sanders' favorability ratings which polled at 40%.  
The poll was conducted by the Hampton University Center for Public Policy from Feb. 18-22 and included 500 registered voters who said they were "likely" to vote on Nov. 8 in the Virginia General Election.
 
The HU Center for Public Policy is an objective, non-partisan source for information and solutions on a variety of topics. Along with HU's mission of education and service, the Center for Public Policy stands to serve as the pulse of the people of Virginia.