A new poll finds voters in a handful of key battleground states are more likely to vote for a generic Republican nominee in the general election than Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton, should she receive her party’s nomination.
According to the latest American Crossroads survey of swing state voters in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia, 52 percent would vote for the Republican nominee if the general election were held today compared to 40 percent who would cast their ballot for Clinton.
The conservative super PAC also found that Clinton’s recent comments about the scandal-ridden Department of Veterans Affairs and illegal immigration have caused her support to wane.
Forty-four percent of respondents said they are “much less likely” to back the former secretary of state following her remark that issues with the VA backlog aren’t as “widespread” as her opponents claim, compared to 5 percent who are “much more likely to support her.”
Half of respondents, 50 percent, said they are “much less likely” to support Clinton after she told moderators during the first Democratic debate she would go even further than President Obama has in granting reprieve and extending benefits to immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. Ten percent said that position makes them “much more likely” to back her.
Asked whether the former first lady represents the past as opposed to the future, a combined 47 percent of respondents indicated they “strongly agree” or “somewhat agree” while a combined 38 percent disagreed. Painting Clinton as “yesterday’s news” has been a frequent line of attack used by Republican senator and presidential hopeful Marco Rubio, who hails from the swing state of Florida.
Respondents in the same poll were also more likely to agree with the statement that Clinton “will say or do anything in order to get elected president” than disagree. Forty-three percent of voters “strongly agreed” with the statement while 18 percent “strongly disagreed.”
The survey of 1,028 registered voters — of whom 35 percent identify as Republican, 33 percent as Democrat and 32 as independent — was conducted by Vox Populi Polling from Nov. 3-4. Results contain a margin of error plus or minus 2.9 percent.
