Bernie Sanders Rides High Favorability To Crushing Every GOP Candidate In New Poll

Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 01:54 pm

Democratic presidential candidate leads in every potential matchup with Republicans in the new Quinnipiac University poll.

According to Quinnipiac University, “Sanders has the highest favorability rating of any candidate and the highest scores for honesty and integrity, for caring about voters’ needs and problems and for sharing voters’ values. He ties Clinton and Trump on having strong leadership qualities and falls behind Clinton and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on having the right kind of experience to be president.”

Sanders leads Trump 48%-42%. He leads Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz by 49%-39% margins. Sen. Sanders leads Marco Rubio 47%-41%, and John Kasich 45%-41%. Hillary Clinton leads Trump 44%-43%. Ted Cruz leads Hillary Clinton 46%-43%. Rubio leads Clinton 48%-41%. Jeb Bush leads Hillary Clinton 44%-43%, and John Kasich leads Clinton 47%-39%.

Sen. Sanders is the most liked candidate in the entire 2016 field. Sanders has a 51% favorability rating and net (+15) favorability rating. John Kasich has a higher net favorability rating of (+17), but an overall lower favorability rating of 35%. Marco Rubio is the only other presidential candidate who is not in net negative territory. Rubio has (+2) net favorability rating with an overall favorability split of 39%-37%. Hillary Clinton is a net (-21) with an overall favorability rating of 38%. Donald Trump is a net (-20) with an overall favorability rating of 37%. Jeb Bush is a net (-11) with an overall favorability rating of 37%, and Ted Cruz is a net (-9) with an overall favorability rating of 36%.

National polls provide a snapshot of popular appeal and possible momentum, but the primary contests are not national elections. National polls this early in the year have no value when assessing the primaries. National polls won’t have much real value until after the parties have selected their nominees, but in very general terms, the national polls do suggest that positive messages are more popular with voters than negativity.

Bernie Sanders is nationally popular, and whether or not he wins the Democratic nomination, Sanders is going to come out of this process as one of the most popular political leaders in the country. The poll also suggests that there could be some untapped potential behind John Kasich’s mostly positive Republican message.

The head to head matchup results will be used by the Sanders campaign to back the argument that their candidate is electable, but the head to head matchups in February aren’t good predictors of the results in November.

Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, and Ted Cruz made it clear at Wednesday night’s CNN Republican town hall that they want to paint the Democratic Party as socialist by running against Bernie Sanders, but Republicans had better be careful about what they wish for because Bernie Sanders has the potential to be a very strong candidate in November.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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