COLUMBUS, Ohio – A year and nine months away from the presidential election, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tops possible Republican contenders in head-to-head matchups in Ohio and two other swing states, with notable exceptions for a couple of “favorite sons.”
A race between Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Clinton is a dead heat in the Buckeye State and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is ties her in that race, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday morning.
The university’s Swing State Poll was conducted between Jan. 22 and Feb. 1 among voters in Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. Since 1960 no candidate has won the presidential race without taking at least two of the states.
Among likely Republican opponents, only Kasich and Bush give the Democratic Clinton good runs, getting 43 percent to her 44 percent in their respective home states, says Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
Clinton’s favorability rating tops 50 percent in each state, though the 51-40 percent favorability rating in Ohio is her narrowest.
The polls shows that, next to Kasich, Clinton’s strongest rival in Ohio would be Bush, whom she is outpacing 47 to 36 percent.
In Pennsylvania, her closes opponent is New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie, who trails her 50 to 39 percent.
Clinton is getting between 86 and 93 percent of Democratic voters, 36 to 54 percent of independents and up to 15 percent of Republican voters, Brown said.
In Ohio, Clinton leads Bush by a 47-36 percent margin, Christie by 47-34 percent, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul by 48-36 and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee 49-34 percent, Brown said.
The poll has margin of error of +/- 3.2 percent in Ohio.