Rubio Strongest General Election Candidate

Marco Rubio

The internal data in the latest Quinnipiac national poll shows why Ted Cruz will be a hard sell in the fall general election and Marco Rubio the strongest candidate.

Ted Cruz

The February 2-4 survey, which conducted a telephone survey of 1,125 registered voters nationwide (margin of error ±2.9 percentage points), presents overall data that among Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, only Rubio beats Hillary Clinton and he has the highest favorability rating of all four candidates.

A comparison of the internal data of Trump, Cruz and Rubio shows Rubio’s strengths with independent voters and his better than expected (or at least better than Trump or Cruz) support with Democrats, Millennials and women.

Rubio, with a 48 percent to 41 percent advantage over Clinton, carries 9 percent of Democrats, holds 89 percent of Republicans and beats Clinton with independents 47 percent to her 38 percent. He only loses women by 4 points and carries men by 20.

He beats Clinton with both the degree and non-degree voters and only loses Millennial voters by 13 points, compared to Cruz who loses to Clinton by 24 points (57% to 33%) and Trump who is crushed by 38 points (61% to 23%).

National polls are less important than statewide primary and caucus polls and results and each event produces a flood of new publicity, but at least after Iowa and before New Hampshire, Marco Rubio is the Republican Party’s strongest general election candidate.