2016 Presidency Matchups

Who wins each?

1. Trump vs Clinton

2. Trump vs Sanders

3. Cruz vs Clinton

4. Cruz vs Sanders

5. Rubio vs Clinton

6. Rubio vs Sanders

There are actually head to head polls tracking this sort of thing though they are not particularly accurate this far in advance. Regardless, I was looking at them earlier today, and I'll share what I recall.

Trump loses to Clinton solidly.

Trump loses to Sanders in a landslide.

Cruz beats Clinton by a hair.

Cruz loses solidly to Sanders.

Rubio wins greatly over Hillary.

Rubio wins by a small margin over Sanders.

As for my personal opinion, Trump would lose to both Democrats. Trump's favorability ratings are in the toilet, and they will get worse if he wins the primary because the mainstream media have a lot of stories they are holding back. I think Cruz and Rubio would win against both. Cruz also has low favorability ratings, but so does Hillary, and unlike Hillary, few people outside political junkies have a real impression of him, so he's got a fresh audience. Cruz will lose if establishment conservative media sabotages him though. Rubio has charisma. I think he'd ice the D's.

@batwatch: did you see him choke in the last debate? Christie, while he's not in the race anymore, tore him to shreds.

Edit: him being Rubio

Earlier on, I had predicted Bush vs Clinton, in a close race, thinking back to the 2000 elections, but, based on the prior 2 elections, I don't think a race will be that close, with a clear slant in favor of democrats. We could have a close call in Florida, Ohio, Nevada, and New Mexico, but, involving either Trump vs Clinton or Trump vs Sanders; Trump is just so decisively ahead in all the upcoming states that anyone beating Trump would be a surprise. If Michael Bloomberg gets involved, we might see the reverse of the 1992 election.

Yeah, he foolishly kept hammering the same talking point, but everybody has bad moments. People seem to be saying he has the yips over one bad night. I think it's a little early to call him finished.

Personally, I hope Rubio is finished because I like Cruz and hate Trump and think Cruz will likely win if it becomes a two man race between the two. If Rubio still looks viable, the conservative vote could split, and we could end up with Trump.

I don't like EITHER of the Democratic candidates, but I'd bet hard money the next President will be a Democrat...most likely Sanders.

1. Trump beats Clinton
2. Sanders beats Trump
3. Clinton beats Cruz
4. Sanders beats Cruz
5. Clinton beats Rubio
6. Rubio beats Sanders

Of those Cruz v. Clinton and Trump v. Sanders would probably be the closest races.

In my opinion? Dems every time.

I envision it to be a lot like the Obama years with more concessions by conservatives, because even when you meet Bernie halfway on a deal you're still moving further left than we've seen in the last 24 years.

Depends on how all this super-delegate nonsense turns out. Without them I agree completely.

This is also what I want. Cruz and Rubio are two viable options, but sadly we can't have both, as long as Trump is in the mix.

Both Democratic candidates are just horrible. But sadly, I have a feeling one of them will win. I'd rather have Bloomberg.

@superdrummer: @dngn4774:

Sad but true, on both counts.

If the field continues to be split between Trump, Cruz and Rubio with Cruz having more than Rubio and Rubio having no real chance, we will finally get an answer to whether Rubio is more establishment or liberty minded. At that point, Rubio could drop and secure Cruz a likely win. On the other hand, all Rubio would have to do to put Trump in office is stay in the race and take votes from Cruz. I'll be interested in seeing how things develop.

Really? Bloomberg doesn't seem any better to me. What do you like about him?