Poll: Clinton has a better shot at beating Trump than Sanders

[DLnyc]

6. Headline should say "Poll shows Democrats think Hillary would do better than Bernie vs Trump"

Last edited Fri Jan 22, 2016, 07:43 PM - Edit history (1)

The poll only looked at Democrats and it asked them who they thought would win if those were the choices. They could also ask those Democrats who they thought would win the Superbowl, but to represent that as meaning that the poll showed Clinton (or Arizona) has a better chance of winning is a bit of a stretch. It merely shows that the Democrats they polled don't have super-accurate perceptions about which way the general electorate currently leans given such a hypothetical match-up. Or perhaps that they have some special foreknowledge about how that electorate will change in the future, I don't know. At any rate, it is just a poll asking Democrats feelings, not an actual poll of voter preferences.

Polls I've seen actually show that, in recent head-to-head matches among all voters nationwide (which is not what this poll is), Bernie does significantly better against Trump than Hillary does.

For example (from PollingReport.com):

NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll conducted by Hart Research Associates (D) and Public Opinion Strategies (R). Jan. 9-13, 2016. N=800 registered voters nationwide. Margin of error ± 3.5.
Hillary: 51 Trump: 41
Bernie: 54 Trump: 39

and

Quinnipiac University. Dec. 16-20, 2015. N=1,140 registered voters nationwide. Margin of error ± 2.9.
Hillary: 47 Trump: 40
Bernie: 51 Trump: 38