Poll: Trump, Clinton lead, but each face challenges
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump each lead in their bids for their parties' presidential nominations, a Quinnipiac University National poll out Thursday finds.
Nothing new there.
But both Trump and Clinton shouldn't celebrate too much, as the poll illustrates the challenges each could face in the months ahead.
First, the good news for the front-runners. On the Republican side, Trump continues to lead the field, despite what could be considered an uneven debate performance last week. The billionaire real estate developer is the choice of 25% of Republicans, while 17% back retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and 12% support former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, who was widely considered the winner of the Sept. 16 Reagan Library debate.
Rounding out the top five are former Florida governor Jeb Bush at 10% and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 9%.
However, despite Trump's lead, 29% of GOP respondents say they "would definitely not support" him.
"When the number of Republicans who 'would definitely not support you' is greater than the number who support you, where does that leave you?" said Tim Malloy, the poll's assistant director, in a release.
Carson, meanwhile, fares best in hypothetical general election match-ups. Against Clinton, for instance, he leads 49% to 42%, while Trump trails the former secretary of State 45% to 43%.
Trump also fares the worst on the question of honesty and trustworthiness.
Ditto for Clinton. She maintains her commanding lead of the Democratic field, however. With Biden included in the poll, she gets 43% of Democrats, while 25% back Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and 18% support Biden. Take the vice president out of the poll, and her numbers improve: She leads Sanders 53% to 30%.
And, compared to Trump, she seems to be in a much better position to unite the party, as only 11% of Democrats responded that they "would definitely not support" her.
Yet, questions of honesty and trustworthiness that have surfaced amid continued scrutiny over her use of a private email server while secretary of State seem poised to dog her candidacy.
Sixty-eight percent of independent voters say they don't think she is honest and trustworthy. Her favorability rating among all voters also pales compare to most other candidates. She scores a 41% favorable rating to a 55% unfavorable one, a potential liability in a general election. Biden fares much better with a 50%-34% favorability score.
Clinton remains quite popular among Democrats, though: 84% say they have a favorable opinion of her, nearly identical to that of Biden, who has an 83% favorability rating within the party.