COLUMBUS, Ohio – Former Secretary of State Hillary would easily brush by any one of seven hypothetical Republican candidates in the important presidential battleground state of Ohio, if the general election were held right now, instead of 16 months from now.
The Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday morning also shows President Obama’s approval rebounding from an historic low point.
According to the survey of registered Ohio voters, the former First Lady and Democratic New York senator leads the potential GOP candidates including Gov. John Kasich, by anywhere from nine to 17 points.
She has also widened a gap between herself and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was polling dead even with before a scandal erupted over the George Washington Bridge. Clinton now tops Christie 49-36 percent, a yawning chasm compared to her 42–41 percent edge in a November survey.
Clinton vs. the GOP, November 2016 in Ohio (Quinnipiac Univ., Feb. 2014)
49-40% over U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin (9 pts.)
51-39% percent over Ohio Gov. John Kasich (12 pts.)
49-36% over New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (13 pts.)
5036% over Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida (14 pts.)
51-36% over former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (15 pts.)
51-38% over Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky (16 pts.)
51-34% over Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas (17 pts.)
Fifty-five percent of Ohio voters say Clinton would make a good president while none of Republicans mentioned in the poll scored better than 50 percent. Christie got only 31 percent, 13 points lower than his score in November; Kasich got a 34 percent positive response.
President Barack Obama’s job approval rating improved from 34 percent in November — his lowest score ever in Ohio — to 40 percent, thought 55 percent of the voters gave him a negative rating.,
Not surprisingly, Democrats gave him a much higher approval rating (80%) than Republicans (8%) or independents (30%). Only 34 percent of men and 46 percent of women approved of the job he was doing a full year into his second term.
The poll was conducted from February 12 to 17 and has a margin of error of +/- 2.7 percentage points.