Survey: 3 Republicans would beat Clinton in Iowa

If the general election for president were today, Iowa voters would choose three Republicans over Democrat Hillary Clinton, a new survey finds.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush would fare better in general election match-ups than Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders would lose to those three Republicans as well, but the Vermont U.S. senator fares as well or better than Clinton.

The general election matchup results would be:

Walker 45 percent, Clinton 37 percent

Rubio 44 percent, Clinton 36 percent

Bush 42 percent, Clinton 36 percent

Walker 44 percent, Sanders 36 percent

Rubio 43 percent, Sanders 36 percent

Bush 42 percent, Sanders 38 percent

The Quinnipiac poll of registered Iowa voters was conducted July 9-20 with live interviewers calling landlines and cellphones, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

Because these are the opinions of the general election voter pool, the results aren’t a barometer of candidates’ performance in the Democratic or GOP caucuses, scheduled for February.

The poll also tested favorability ratings of 23 presidential candidates.

More Iowa voters have a negative view of reality TV star Donald Trump than of any other contender – but Clinton does nearly as badly.

Fifty-seven percent think negatively of Trump, 32 positively.

Fifty-six percent have a negative view of Clinton, 33 positive.

Trump’s “large negative favorability rating means his growth potential is not as attractive as his (Republican) competitors,” Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said in a news release Wednesday morning.

And the large drop in Clinton’s favorability in Iowa, from a split 45 percent/47 percent in Quinnipiac’s April 9 survey to a big negative 33 percent/56 percent today “has to be worrisome for her,” Brown said.

Clinton isn’t honest and trustworthy, Iowa voters say 59 percent to 33 percent. She is a strong leader, voters say 52 percent to 43 percent, but she doesn’t care about their needs and problems, voters say 55 percent to 39 percent.

Bush is also under water on his favorability rating – 45 percent negative, 37 percent positive. Sixteen percent say they haven’t heard enough about him to shape an opinion. Rubio fares better – 36 percent see him favorably, 27 percent negatively – but 35 percent are unfamiliar with him. Walker’s rating is 38 percent positive, 23 percent negative, but 38 percent don’t know enough about him.

Click here to see full results of the poll.