Poll: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton hold big leads in Virginia
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton hold wide leads in the upcoming Virginia primaries a new poll says.
Forty-one percent of likely Republican voters support Trump, and he's followed by Marco Rubio (27 percent), Ted Cruz (14 percent), John Kasich (7 percent) and Ben Carson (7 percent), according to a Monmouth University poll released Thursday. Nearly every demographic group supports Trump, and, as was the case in Nevada's caucuses, he attracts a majority of likely Republican voters with only a high school education (54 percent).
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Less than a week out from voting day, Virginia voters haven't entirely made up their minds. Thirty-six percent say they're completely decided, and 40 percent have at least a strong preference. Among those who have settled on Trump, however, 53 percent of those supporting him say they've decided.
Several of the GOP candidates have been assuring voters that when the field narrows, they'll be able to overtake the billionaire front-runner. Monmouth tested the theory in hypothetical matchups in a narrower field. In Virginia, if the Republican field consisted only of Cruz, Rubio and Trump, Trump would win 42 percent suport, while Rubio's and Cruz's support would go up five percentage points, not enough to catch up with Trump.
If the hypothetical three-way race pits Kasich against Cruz and Trump, Trump would attract 45 percent support, while Cruz would pick up 27 percent and Kasich, 22 percent.
On the Democratic side, Clinton leads Bernie Sanders 60 percent to 33 percent among likely Virginia Democratic voters. Winning Virginia would be a welcome change from 2008 for Clinton, when she lost the state by almost 30 points to then-candidate Barack Obama. Clinton leads in nearly all demographics. Among voters under 50 years old, they're nearly tied. Forty-seven percent of Democratic primary voters say they've settled on their candidate choice.
Thursday night, the GOP field meets in Texas for its 10th Republican debate.
The Monmouth University Poll was conducted by telephone from February 22 to 24, 2016 with 421 Virginia voters likely to vote in the Republican presidential primary and 302 Virginia voters likely to vote in the Democratic presidential primary. The Republican likely primary voter sample has a margin of error of +4.8 percent and the Democratic likely primary voter sample has a margin of error of + 5.6 percent. The poll was conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch, NJ.