Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump just got some good news in a new batch of polls
The Quinnipiac University surveys found former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and property magnate Donald Trump leading their primary rivals in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
In Pennsylvania, Clinton garnered 36% of the vote - ahead of Vice President Joe Biden, who is still mulling a run and got 25%, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), who had 19%.
Trump's Pennsylvania edge wasn't as strong. He got 23% of the Republican vote there, ahead of retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson's 17%, Sen. Marco Rubio's (R-Florida) 12%, and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina's 8%.
Clinton and Trump's leads in both Ohio and Florida were similar.
On the GOP side, those two states' results were especially notable because three major local candidates are in the presidential race: Rubio, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R).
"Those who were waiting for Donald Trump's campaign to collapse will need to wait longer - at least in the three key states of Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania," Peter Brown, Quinnipiac's assistant director said in a statement.
The Quinnipiac polls also had some clear warning signs for both Trump and Clinton.
Neither front-runner performed especially strong in general-election matchups. Indeed, the pollster's write-up of the results noted that Trump and Clinton "continue to have the worst overall favorability ratings among all voters of any of the leading candidates, and the lowest scores for being honest and trustworthy."
In the three states tested, Quinnipiac found that Biden and Carson were the strongest nominees, though it's possible both could decline in future weeks under the media spotlight. In Florida, Biden beat Carson 45% to 42%. In Ohio, Carson got 46% to Biden's 42%. And in Pennsylvania, Carson edged Biden, 47% to 42%.
"When we get past the playoffs to the World Series, the general election face-off, Biden does better against leading Republicans than does Clinton or Sanders," Brown said.
"Trump, despite his strong showing in mock Republican primaries, fares worst among the GOP candidates matched against the three Democratic aspirants - giving some credence to pundits who say the billionaire could be every Democrats' favorite GOP nominee."