Trump, Clinton lead in Virginia: New poll

Donald Trump has a narrow lead among Virginia Republicans in a new poll from Christopher Newport University.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton has a 12-point lead on Bernie Sanders, 52 percent to 40 percent.

Voters will head to the voting booth in Virginia for dueling party primaries on March 1.

Trump is at 28 percent in the poll, with Marco Rubio at 22 percent and Ted Cruz at 19 percent.

That’s the good news for Trump. The bad news is that he is viewed unfavorably by nearly two-thirds of Virginia voters.

The poll has 30 percent of voters in Virginia giving Trump a favorable rating, and 64 percent giving him an unfavorable rating.

“Even so, among likely Republican voters, he still wins the horse race,” said Dr. Quentin Kidd, director of the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University.

Rubio is above water with a 44/38 positive favorable split. Cruz is at 33 percent favorable/52 percent unfavorable.

Both are underwater in terms of favorability – Clinton at a 33/59 split, and Sanders at 39/50.

“Virginia Democrats continue to be hesitant on Clinton,” said Kidd. “However, she maintains a solid lead over Sanders in the primary, with only a small percentage of undecided voters left.”

The Republican primary appears to be attracting more potential voters than the Democratic primary: 50% say they plan to vote in the Republican primary, while 39% say they plan to vote in the Democratic primary. With two weeks to go, 2% have yet to decide and 9% are either not planning to vote or not willing to say.