Poll finds Clinton losing to four Republican candidates in Iowa

Hillary Clinton would lose the swing state of Iowa to several potential Republican opponents, according to a new poll from a Democratic-leaning company.

The Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey released Tuesday showed Clinton getting the worse of match-ups against GOP candidates Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and retired surgeon Dr. Ben Carson.

{mosads}The results are likely to be of particular concern to Democrats given that President Obama carried the Hawkeye State during both of his election victories, in 2008 and 2012. Clinton is the dominant front-runner in the race for the Democratic nomination, while Republicans are locked in a dogfight.

Other polls show Clinton well ahead in Iowa of her rivals for the Democratic nomination, but the new survey is likely to add to the sense that Clinton could be vulnerable in a general election battle.

A recent survey by Quinnipiac showed Clinton trailing GOP candidates in the swing states of Iowa, Colorado and Virginia. Other polls have suggested voters don’t trust Clinton.

Republicans believe she is a flawed candidate and have railed against her use of a private email server as secretary of State, hoping this will resonate with voters.

The poll wasn’t all bad for the Democratic front-runner.  

Clinton also beats a number of potential Republican challengers in the poll, including current front-runner Donald Trump, by 3 percentage points, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, over whom she has a 4-percentage-point lead.

The margins for or against Clinton are small in all cases. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, meaning that only a lead of 5 points or more could be considered definitive. Clinton neither won nor lost by that margin against the 11 potential Republican candidates tested.

The closeness of the poll underscores that Iowa will once again be a fiercely contested state in the 2016 general election. In the past six presidential contests — from 1992 onward — Iowa has backed the winner of the White House five times. The sole exception came in 2000 when then-Vice President Al Gore (D) won the state but lost the presidency to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush (R).

“Iowa is looking very much like a toss up in the presidential race at this early stage,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, in a news release. “The numbers are more reminiscent of the photo finish in the state in 2004 than Barack Obama’s relatively comfortable wins in 2008 and 2012.”

Clinton is also severely underwater in terms of her overall favorability with voters in the state. She is viewed unfavorably by 52 percent and favorably by 38 percent of Iowans, according to the PPP poll.  

However, Trump and Bush fared even worse than Clinton’s net negative 14-point favorability rating. 

Trump was among the worst candidates tested in terms of net favorability: his rating was minus 27 points, with only 30 percent of Iowans saying they viewed him favorably and 57 percent viewing him unfavorably. Bush had a net favorability rating of minus 16 points (29 percent favorable, 45 percent unfavorable).

Public Policy Polling surveyed 1,500 registered voters in Iowa from Aug. 7 to 9.