Donald Trump remains the Republican front-runner — but a new poll confirms that he’s losing some support. Hillary Clinton also maintains her advantage on the Democratic side, even if the undeclared Joe Biden jumps into the mix.
A new Quinnipiac University national survey of likely GOP voters put Trump’s support at 25% — ahead of Ben Carson at 17% and Carly Fiorina at 12%. They’re followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 10% support, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 9% and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 7%. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich were each at 2% and no other candidates topped 1%.
The results reinforce a recent CNN/ORC poll that showed an ascendent Fiorina in the wake of her strong debate performance last week. Fiorina posted the largest gains in favorability since August, up 12 points, with Carson (+10) and Christie (+9) also making big gains. Trump’s ratings have held steady at 36% favorable, meanwhile, and he remains more disliked than liked.
The GOP results don’t show much of a gender divide, with Trump performing fairly evenly among men (25%) and women (24%). The same is true for Fiorina, at 14% with women versus 11% with men. But 34% of women say they could never support Trump, compared to just 25% of men.
On the Democratic side, Clinton notched an 18-point advantage over her progressive rival, Bernie Sanders, and also led Vice President Joe Biden — who is still mulling a potential White House bid.
Clinton earned 43% support, compared to Sanders’ 25% and Biden’s 18%. Other candidates failed to reach 1%. When Biden is removed from the race, his support breaks in Clinton’s favor by a 2-to-1 margin. In that scenario, Clinton receives 53% support to Sanders’ 30%, with former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley at 1%.
In general election match-ups, Carson is the only GOP candidate who tops Clinton — earning 49% support among all voters to Clinton’s 42%.
The Democratic front-runner runs about even with Bush, Fiorina, and Trump.
Biden, meanwhile, fares better against GOP opponents. He tops Trump 51% to 40%, and Bush, 46% to 41% Bush. He runs about even with Carson and slightly behind Fiorina.