Poll: Trump Beats Hillary in General Election Match-Up

A new FoxNews poll shows GOP frontrunner Donald Trump edging Hillary Clinton in a general election match-up. A December poll from Fox showed Hillary ahead of Trump by 11 points. This latest poll, however, has Trump beating Clinton by 3 points, 47-44 percent.

Since early December, Trump has been engulfed in media controversies surrounding his proposal to temporarily ban Muslim immigrants and his rhetoric confronting Hillary about President Bill Clinton’s salacious past and allegations of sexual misconduct with women. In that time, a potential general election match-up against Hillary has swung 14 points in Trump’s favor.

At the beginning of summer, Hillary led Trump by 17 points in an earlier Fox poll. Hillary is plagued by two significant challenges. Voter approval of Barack Obama is only 42 percent, while 53 percent disapprove of his job performance. Obama’s approval numbers are near the historic lows of his presidency.

Worse, however, are Obama’s marks on a number of important issues. In fact, on every issue tested, whether improving health care or containing ISIS, a strong majority of voters believe Obama will be remembered more for his failures than successes.

Hillary’s challenge isn’t just Obama’s unpopularity, however. She receives the lowest marks of any candidate running for president on being honest and trustworthy. Only 36 percent of voters believe Hillary is honest. A staggering 62 percent, almost two-thirds, say she is not trustworthy.

A candidate viewed as dishonest seeking to succeed an increasingly unpopular president itself presents a formidable challenge. The challenge is perhaps harder for Hillary, given the Clintons’ long record with voters. Almost half of voters, 46 percent, say Bill Clinton’s sex scandals have hurt Hillary’s campaign. Only 29 percent of voters say the sex scandals won’t make a difference in her campaign.

While Hillary has lost ground to Trump, as well as Rubio and Cruz, it is important to note that she has held steady against Jeb Bush. In fact, according to this latest poll, Jeb Bush may be the only Republican candidate who doesn’t have an edge on Hillary.

Perhaps Mitt Romney was right. A Bush-Clinton match-up would ensure Hillary captures the White House.