National Poll Shows Democrats Leading Trump in General Election Matchups

A national Quinnipiac University poll released Monday shows top candidates in the Democrat primary field — including Michael Bloomberg (D) — leading President Trump in hypothetical general election matchups.

The Quinnipiac poll, released a day ahead of the highly anticipated primary contest in New Hampshire, indicated that Democrat candidates are leading the president in hypothetical general election matchups among registered voters across the board. Notably, Bloomberg, who edged out Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) for third place nationally, saw the highest lead over the president, 51 percent to 42 percent.

The results, per Quinnipiac:

• Bloomberg tops Trump 51 – 42 percent;
• Sanders defeats Trump 51 – 43 percent;
• Biden beats Trump 50 – 43 percent;
• Klobuchar defeats Trump 49 – 43 percent;
• Warren wins narrowly over Trump 48 – 44 percent;
• Buttigieg is also slightly ahead of Trump 47 – 43 percent.

While the poll also showed the president with a favorability rating of 42 percent (55 percent view him unfavorably), the leading Democrats experience similar numbers:

• Warren gets a negative 39 – 47 percent favorability rating;
• Biden gets a negative 43 – 50 percent;
• Bloomberg gets a negative 34 – 40 percent, with 25 percent who haven’t heard enough about him;
• Sanders gets a negative 44 – 49 percent;
• Buttigieg gets a positive 36 – 32 percent, and 31 percent haven’t heard enough about him;
• Klobuchar gets a positive 32 – 22 percent, with 44 percent who haven’t heard enough about her.

Despite that, voters approve of the president’s job on the economy, 54 percent to 42 percent. The number is even higher among independents, who approve of his handling of the economy 59 percent to 37 percent.

While the survey shows the top Democrat candidates leading the president nationally, only 27 percent of Democrat voters believe Biden, who once held the status as the Democrat frontrunner, has the best chance of defeating Trump. That represents a 17 point drop from the 44 percent he saw in January. Nearly a quarter of Democrats, 24 percent, view Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as the candidate most likely to defeat Trump, followed by Bloomberg with 17 percent.

The survey was conducted on February 5-9, 2020, among 1,519 “self-identified registered voters.” The margin of error is +/- 2.5 percent.

Included in the survey are 665 Democratic and Democrat-leaning voters. The margin of error for that subset is +/- 3.8 percent.