Democratic front-runner Clinton trails three Republicans in new Iowa poll

CEDAR RAPIDS —  Two weeks before the first 2016 presidential candidate debate, a new poll shows three Republican hopefuls leading Hillary Clinton in three key swing states including Iowa.

The Quinnipiac University Poll found the Democratic former secretary of state trails former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

In some cases, the poll found, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is running as well as or ahead of Clinton for the Democratic nomination.www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.

The poll, released Wednesday, found Clinton's favorability ratings had fallen since Quinnipiac conducted its Swing State Poll in Iowa, Virginia and Colorado on April 19.

In Iowa, they have fallen from 45 percent favorable and 47 percent unfavorable in April to 33 percent favorable and 56 percent unfavorable now, which 'has to be worrisome for her,' according to Peter Brown, assistant poll director.

Clinton also lost ground on key questions about her honesty and leadership, he said.

'On being a strong leader, a key metric in presidential campaigns, she has dropped four to 10 points depending on the state, and she is barely above 50 percent in each of the three states,' Brown said.

Against Bush, Rubio and Walker, Clinton trails in six matchups 'and is on the down side of too-close-to call in three,' he said.

The poll found that Vice President Joe Biden — if he were to be a candidate — 'holds up as well as other Democratic contenders' against Bush, Rubio and Walker.

Biden scores higher in the poll than his potential Democratic rivals on the question of whether he cares about the needs and problems of people.

A Rubio spokesman said the campaign doesn't comment on polls. The Walker campaign didn't respond to a request for comment and the Bush campaign declined to comment on the record.

But the Bush campaign did use the findings for a fundraising appeal. By early afternoon, it had sent an email with the subject line: 'Awesome new poll out.'

The Clinton campaign also declined to respond. Instead, it provided reporters with criticisms of the Quinnipiac poll.

Perhaps the biggest loser, according to Quinnipiac, is GOP candidate Donald Trump, who has negative favorability ratings of almost 2-1 in each of the states.

The worst favorability ratings for any Democrat or Republican in the presidential field belong to Trump: 31-58 percent in Colorado, 32-57 percent in Iowa and 32-61 percent in Virginia.

Although Trump has been at or near the top of a number of recent polls, Brown said the real estate and entertainment mogul's 'large negative favorability rating means his growth potential is not as attractive as his competitors.'

'Because Iowa is the scene of the first caucus, Iowa voters are exposed to the presidential campaign more and much earlier than those in any other state with the possible exception of New Hampshire,' Brown said. Clinton has visited Iowa seven times since 2013. Republican Party of Iowa spokesman Charlie Szold asserted that for voters in the state, 'the more they learn, the less they trust her.'

From July 9 to 20, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,236 Iowa voters with a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points. Live interviewers called landlines and cellphones. For more information, visit