Clinton, Trump maintain leads in Virginia

Presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have maintained their leads in Virginia despite losing ground to their competitors in recent months, according to a new poll by Christopher Newport University’s Wason Center for Public Policy.

In the democratic race, Clinton leads Sen. Bernie Sanders 52 percent to 40 percent among likely voters in the Commonwealth, while 28 percent of likely republican primary-goers said they will vote for Donald Trump compared to 22 percent for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and 19 percent for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the clustered Republican contest.

Rubio and Cruz significantly improved their poll numbers in the Commonwealth since the Wason Center conducted its previous poll in October. The senators then polled at 14 percent and five percent respectively. In the democratic primary, Bernie Sanders has experienced a similar rise in poll numbers — the Vermont senator nearly doubled his support among democrats in the state from 23 percent in Oct.

“This reflects what we’ve seen nationally: as people learn who Sanders is, and hear his platform, they support him. His support in Virginia has only grown over the past several months,” said Peter Clerkin, Bernie 2016 Virginia state director.

The poll data released on Feb. 16 and indicates the frontrunners in each party were also viewed the most unfavorably by likely voters. 59 percent of likely Virginia voters have unfavorable views of Clinton, compared to 33 percent viewing her favorably, according to the poll. 64 percent have an unfavorable view of Trump while 30 percent favor the New York businessman.

Rubio and Sanders were the most favored candidates among candidates from both parties. Rubio led the pack as the only candidate with positive net-favorability, 44 percent of voters viewed him as favorable compared to 39 percent unfavorable. Sanders led Clinton in the favorability department with 39 percent viewing him as favorable compared to 50 percent who viewed him as unfavorable.

The poll indicated a widened gap between the top three candidates in the republican race and the three who follow them. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are tied with 7 percent of the vote, former Florida Gov. With four percent of the vote, Jeb Bush is in last in Virginia.

“While Trump is leading in Virginia, Rubio and Cruz are within striking distance,” said Quentin Kidd, Director of the Wason Center, in a statement “Carson, Kasich, and Bush are very long shots at this point, two weeks out.”

Trump continues to lead the republican pack in national polls. A Feb. 17 Fox News poll has the candidate leading with 36 percent of the republican vote. His closest competitor in that poll, Cruz, stands at 19 percent. The real estate mogul followed his third place finish at the Iowa Caucus with a sizable victory in the New Hampshire Primary, finishing with a 20 percent lead in the popular vote over Kasich.

“Trump is able to relate to the average virginian the middle american who is simply trying to work and feed their families and he’s able to speak directly to people,” said Corey Stewart, chairman of Trump’s campaign in Va. “No one else has been able to do that. no one else has been able to obtain that much support and confidence to your average joe.”

The pollsters interviewed 735 Virginia voters from Feb. 3 to Feb.14, 408 of those interviewed were on landline phones and 327 were on cellphones. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 4.3 percent.

Print News Editor, Fadel Allassan

Fadel is a sophomore print journalism major. He is fluent in English, French and Sarcasm, and he probably doesn’t like you. Fadel enjoys writing about politics and making people drive him to Cook-Out. // Facebook | LinkedIn

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