For months, Ohio Gov. John Kasich has been arguing that he should be the Republican nominee for president because polls show he would defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the general election while front-runner Donald Trump would lose.
Sen. Ted Cruz has made similar arguments, contending that to nominate Trump is to vote for Clinton.
They may want to develop a new argument.
A new Rasmussen poll shows Trump in the lead in a face-off with Clinton.
The national telephone survey of likely U.S. voters finds Trump with 41 percent support to Clinton’s 39 percent. Another 15 percent prefer another candidate and 5 percent are undecided.
And that’s before, as Trump has stated, he begins in earnest his attacks on “crooked Hillary,” as he’s already dubbed her.
If given a “stay-at-home” option, the poll found 6 percent would not vote, and Clinton and Trump would tie with 38 percent each. Sixteen percent said they would vote for someone else and 2 percent were undecided.
“But Trump edges slightly ahead if the stay-at-home option is removed,” the pollster said. “Trump also now does twice as well among Democrats as Clinton does among Republicans.”
The Hill reported the “crooked Hillary” label likely would be just one of a number of ways Trump would attack the former first lady.
“Trump’s branding of his rivals has been lethal so far. His attacks against Jeb Bush for being ‘low energy’ haunted the former Florida governor. Trump also counts ‘Little Marco’ Rubio as a vanquished foe, and he has delighted in explaining to supporters that there is no ‘g’ in ‘Lyin’ Ted’ Cruz.”
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Trump already has accused Clinton of playing the “woman card” and being an “enabler” of her husband’s abuse of women over the years.
Also, the report said Trump “has not shied away from attacks against his rivals’ physical appearance.”
“When it comes to 68-year-old Clinton, the 69-year-old Trump plans to frame his younger rival as too old, too weak and too tired.”
Clinton’s records on foreign policy and trade also would be attacked, the report said.
Trump recently “turned Clinton’s infamous ‘3 a.m. phone call’ ad arguing then-Sen. Barack Obama was unprepared for the presidency against her.”
Trump said that “she was not awake to take that call.”
Further, Hillary Clinton is getting hundreds of thousands of fewer votes than she got in 2008.
“She got more votes that year in a much more competitive primary that she ended up losing that she has this year against a devout, proud socialist,” Breitbart reported.
“Clinton is widely expected to be the Democratic nominee in 2016, but her poor performance in the primaries – which many believe she should have wrapped up long ago – may drag her down heading in the general election, as even many Democratic voters seem to distrust her,” the report said.
Meanwhile Trump is pulling in more votes than any Republican ever before.
“Trump now has the support of 73 percent of Republicans, while 77 percent of Democrats back Clinton. But Trump picks up 15 percent of Democrats, while just eight percent (8 percent) of GOP voters prefer Clinton, given this matchup. Republicans are twice as likely to prefer another candidate,” the Rasmussen report said.
“Among voters not affiliated with either major party, Trump leads 37 percent to 31 percent, but 23 percent like another candidate. Nine percent (9 percent) are undecided.”
Rasmussen’s poll is based on a survey of 1,000 likely voters. It was conducted April 27-28, and the sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
“Trump leads 48 percent to 35 percent among men but trails Clinton by a similar 44 percent to 34 percent among women,” Rasmussen said.
Nine of 10 in each party believe Clinton and Trump will be the nominees.
“Clinton’s narrow 38 percent to 32 percent lead among those under 40, traditionally a reliable Democratic group, suggests that younger voters will be a big target in the upcoming campaigning. Twenty-five percent (25 percent) of these voters like another candidate for now, and five percent (5 percent) are undecided. Trump has a small advantage among older voters.
“Clinton earns 71 percent of the black vote, 45 percent support among other minority voters but just 33 percent of whites. Trump gets only nine percent (9 percent) of blacks, 33 percent of other minorities and 48 percent of white voters.