While former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is the frontrunner in the Democratic presidential primary, Wisconsin polling so far has shown her rival Bernie Sanders winning head-to-head matchups against all Republican contenders.
Marquette University Law School’s most recent poll found Clinton losing by a percentage point to Republicans Marco Rubio and Ben Carson, but it found Sanders would beat Rubio by 4 percentage points and Carson by 6 points.
Marquette Law School pollster Charles Franklin said that both Clinton and Sanders have strong support from Democrats, but in hypothetical general election matchups, Sanders has more support from independents and even a handful of Republicans.
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“Now, whether that would continue as voters become more aware of both the Republican and Democratic candidates, that’s too early to say,” Franklin said. “But at least right now, the Sanders’ advantage that we’re seeing in the data has less to do with the way Democrats are voting and more to do with the way independents and a handful of Republicans are voting.”
The more immediate challenge for Sanders is beating Clinton, who has consistently led the Democratic field in Wisconsin.
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