Donald Trump on Top In Connecticut, Hillary Stumbles

Donald Trump leads the Republican field in Connecticut with 34 percent, “his highest score in any Quinnipiac University state poll so far.” And while Hillary Clinton leads on the Democrat side with 37 percent, that’s down from 53 percent back in March.

The pollsters report:

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has 25 percent, with 18 percent for Vice President Joseph Biden and 12 percent undecided.

Clinton also heads the “no way” list with 16 percent of Democrats saying  they “definitely” would not vote for her.

As for the rest of the GOP field, “Dr. Ben Carson gets 14 percent … with 11 percent for Carly Fiorina, 7 percent for U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and 6 percent each for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. No other candidate tops 4 percent, with 9 percent undecided.”

Trump may top the GOP “no way” list, with 25 percent claiming they would “definitely not” vote for the businessman; however, that should be of little comfort to the Republican establishment as he’s followed by Jeb Bush. Twenty-two percent say they would “definitely not” support him.

“Connecticut Republicans apparently want an outsider, as Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina lead the field and get a combined total of 59 percent of the Republican primary vote. Establishment candidates such as Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio are in single digits,” said Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz, PhD.

“Secretary Hillary Clinton does especially well among Democratic women, ahead of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders by about 2-1. Sanders leads Clinton slightly among very liberal Democrats.”

The poll is available in pdf format here, with additional trend information here.

“A Trump-Clinton matchup would be a battle of two negatively viewed candidates. Clinton would come out ahead but Trump is within single digits – 7 points,” Dr. Schwartz said.

“Biden is clearly a stronger general election candidate than Clinton. He would easily defeat Trump by double digits – 18 points. Clinton is in a close race with both Carson and Fiorina, while Biden would defeat both of them handily.”

From October 7 – 11, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,735 registered voters with a margin of error of +/- 2.4 percentage points. The survey includes 464 Republicans with a margin of error of +/- 4.6 percentage points and 610 Democrats with a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points. Live interviewers call land lines and cell phones.