Presidential polling
Biden outpolls Clinton in key swing-state matchups against Trump
Hillary Clinton might be the leading Democrat in the polls, but in hypothetical general-election matchups in the swing states of Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, Joe Biden fares just as well as Clinton against top 2016 Republicans — if not better. A Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday reveals that, against Donald Trump in Ohio, Clinton only led 43 percent to 38 percent. Biden, on the other hand, beat Trump 48 percent to 38 percent. While Clinton lost to Marco Rubio in Quinnipiac's hypothetical general-election matchup in Ohio with 40 percent to Rubio's 42 percent, Biden prevailed 42 percent to 41 percent.
Moreover, the VP's impressive numbers come in spite of his continued indecision about whether or not to run for president, a call that he is expected to make in coming weeks. While Biden was neck-and-neck with Clinton in most instances, he fared better than the one Democrat who is actually in the presidential race and giving Clinton a run for her money, Politico reports. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders trailed Jeb Bush 42 percent to 36 percent and lost to Rubio 42 percent to 32 percent in Ohio. Against Trump, Sanders only led by a margin of two percentage points, compared to Biden's 10-point margin.
The polls were conducted between August 7-18 in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The Ohio results have an overall margin of error of plus or minus 5.1 percentage points with Republicans and plus or minus 5.2 percentage points with Democrats.