Who Will Win, Clinton Or Trump? Front-Runners Hold Wide Leads In New York, But Democrats Would Win In General

New Yorkers like winners, a new poll indicates. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump — who are leading their parties' nomination races — hold double-digit leads over their rivals among Empire State voters, according to a Siena College poll released Monday.

New York native Trump expanded his lead to 27 points over the GOP field, leading with 45 percent over Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who are tied for second at 18 percent. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz garnered just 11 percent support, 5 percent down from a poll Siena College conducted last month.

On the Democratic side, Clinton, a former U.S. senator for New York, led rival Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders 55-43 percent, the same margin she held in last month’s New York poll. Clinton would also rout any Republican candidate in a general election match-up in the state, the poll found. She led Rubio, Cruz and Trump by more than 20 points each, while Kasich did the best against the former secretary of state, losing to her by just 7 percent, 49-42.

Sanders did even better against Republican contenders in general election match-ups, beating GOP candidates by between 19 and 37 points. When a potential independent run by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was thrown into the equation, Bloomberg got about a quarter of the vote, while Sanders led by 14 percent and Clinton led by 16 percent.

New York is a heavily blue state, where registered Democrats hugely outnumber registered Republicans, so the general election findings are not surprising. No Republican has carried New York in a general election since Ronald Reagan in 1984, and that is not expected to change this year.

On the question of favorability, Sanders won out over Clinton, getting a 52 percent favorable rating to her 48 percent. But 68 percent of Democrats view her favorably, while 59 percent view him favorably.

The poll broke its findings down by religion, and Clinton had a slightly higher favorable rating among Jews and Protestants (a category including many African-Americans), while Sanders, who is Jewish, scored higher among Catholics. When it came to voting, Jews preferred Clinton over Sanders, 56 percent to 27 percent.

This is particularly noteworthy after Sanders was asked about his faith during Sunday’s Democratic presidential debate in Michigan, and he said he was proud to be Jewish. That answer was one of his most prominent moments talking about his Jewishness, and came after he has received attention for what many see as downplaying his connection to Judaism.

The poll also found that New Yorkers believe the U.S. Senate should act on a Supreme Court nomination if President Barack Obama makes one, and that they view Obama with a 59-36 percent favorability rating. The Siena College poll was conducted Feb. 28-March 3 and included 800 New York State registered voters. It had a 4.1 percent margin of error.