WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton trails three top Republican presidential candidates in head-to-head matchups in Colorado, Iowa and Virginia, a new survey shows. The latest Quinnipiac University swing state polling released Wednesday shows the Democratic frontrunner trailing former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in each of those states.
The biggest loser, the polls found, is Donald Trump, who has surged to the front of a crowded Republican primary field nationally but is viewed unfavorably, by almost a 2-to-1 margin, by voters in those states.
The results offered more indications that Clinton has a problem: Voters say they don’t trust her.
In Colorado, only 34 percent of voters said they see Clinton as honest and trustworthy while 62 percent said they don’t. In Iowa, the numbers were 33 percent to 59 percent — a drop from 45 percent to 47 percent in April. And in Virginia, Clinton did best, at 39 percent saying they trust her to 55 percent saying they don’t.
“She has lost ground in the horse race and on key questions about her honesty and leadership,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, in a release accompanying Wednesday morning’s results. “On being a strong leader, a key metric in presidential campaigns, she has dropped four to 10 points depending on the state and she is barely above 50% in each of the three states.”
The polls were conducted July 9-20 in the three states, with more than 1,200 voters and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points in each state.
In Colorado, Clinton trails Rubio 38 percent-46 percent, Bush 36 percent – 41 percent and Walker 38 percent – 47 percent. In Iowa, she trails Rubio 36 percent – 44 percent, Bush 36 percent – 42 percent and Walker 37 percent – 45 percent. And in Virginia, Clinton has the narrowest margins between her and her Republican opponents, where she lags behind Rubio 41 percent – 43 percent, Bush 39 percent – 42 percent and Walker 40 percent -43 percent.
In Colorado, Walker performed the best even though 3-in-10 voters weren’t ready to weigh in on questions about his honesty and leadership skills.
“Hillary Clinton’s numbers on honesty and trust may border on abysmal but Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the GOP front runner, is still battling a name recognition handicap,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
“Do Colorado voters trust Hillary? No, they do not. Do they think she cares about their needs? No, they do not,” he said. “So the door is open to a GOP candidate voters can believe in.”
