Nearly 50 percent of Connecticut Republican primary voters favor Donald Trump and on the Democratic side former Secretary of the State Hillary Clinton has a nine point lead over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, according to Wednesday’s Quinnipiac University poll.
Wednesday’s poll shows Trump with 48 percent of the vote, Ohio Gov. John Kasich comes in second with 28 percent of the vote and Texas Senator Ted Cruz is a distant third with 19 percent of the vote.
At least 59 percent of Connecticut Republicans said they want an “outsider” for president rather than someone experienced in politics.
“Connecticut Republicans have gone for outsider candidates such as Linda McMahon and Tom Foley. They continue that trend with Donald Trump,” Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz, said. “The conventional wisdom that Sen. Cruz is too conservative for Connecticut looks true, as he comes in a distant third in the Republican primary. Kasich clearly is outpacing Cruz for second, but running well behind Trump.”
There doesn’t seem to be much of a gender gap on the Republican side.
Trump gets 51 percent of men with 27 percent for Kasich and 18 percent for Cruz. Republican women go 45 percent for Trump, 30 percent for Kasich and 20 percent for Cruz. But the poll found that Kasich takes 39 percent of Republican voters 18 to 44 years old, with 32 percent for Trump and 27 percent for Cruz. Trump leads among older voters.
On the Democratic side there is a racial and gender gap with 55 percent of Democratic female primary voters backing Clinton. Democratic men are divided with 50 percent for Sanders and 45 percent for Clinton
White Democratic voters are also divided with 49 percent for Clinton and 47 percent for Sanders, while black voters back Clinton 66 percent.
“Secretary Hillary Clinton wins on all the most important issues to voters, except for income inequality. Sen. Bernie Sanders wins on honesty, values, and empathy. But Clinton wins by bigger margins on leadership, electability, and experience,” Schwartz said.
A total of 67 percent of Democratic voters have a strongly or somewhat favorable opinion of Clinton and Sanders gets a 66 percent favorability rating.
The poll didn’t ask about Rocky De La Fuente, a Democratic candidate who will be on Connecticut’s ballot.
The poll of 823 likely Republican primary voters and 1,037 likely Democratic primary voters was conducted between April 12 and April 18 and has a 3.4 percent margin of error on the Republican side and a 3 percent margin of error on the Democratic side.