Poll: Trump Leads GOP Contenders in Pa.

A Quinnipiac University poll shows Trump as the GOP leader in PA, OH and FL.

Via Shutterstock

Via Shutterstock

Donald Trump‘s apparent popularity with GOP voters continues to climb.

Trump is the leading Republican candidate in three swing states — Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida — in a just-released poll by Quinnipiac University.

In Pennsylvania, “Trump leads among Republicans with 24 percent, followed by 13 percent for Carson and 10 percent for Rubio,” Quinnipiac reports. “No other candidate tops 7 percent, with 9 percent undecided.”

The poll zeroes in on this trio of “swing states,” the release explains, because “since 1960 no candidate has won the presidential race without taking at least two of these three states.”

“While they lead in the race for the nomination, (Hillary) Clinton and Trump have the worst overall favorability ratings among all voters of any of the leading candidates, and the lowest scores for being honest and trustworthy,” the release adds.

Joe Biden, should he eventually throw his hat in the ring for the Democratic nomination, would run “as well or slightly better” than Hillary Clinton, the Democratic favorite, the poll found.

“While they lead in the race for the nomination, Clinton and Trump have the worst overall favorability ratings among all voters of any of the leading candidates, and the lowest scores for being honest and trustworthy,” the release says.

PoliticsPA, which first reported the Quinnipiac poll, says that though Trump is leading in the poll, a deeper look at his numbers shows he’s not a favored candidate in many areas of evaluation. Only 34 percent of polled voters view Trump favorably, whereas 55 perent disapprove; further, the only demographics Trump really appeals to are Republicans and men. Trump also lacks wide-ranging support in areas like honesty, attention to voter needs, and temperament, PoliticsPA adds.

“Donald Trump may have the raw horserace numbers, but below the surface there is a looming problem: Pennsylvania voters give him stunningly bad numbers on trust, honesty and favorability,” Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said in a statement.

In fact, one of the polling questions — asking if the Presidential election were held today between Clinton and Trump, who would you vote for —  Clinton beat Trump by five percent margins in both Pennsylvania and Ohio.

1,085 Pennsylvanians were polled, 443 of whom are registered Republicans and 462 of whom were registered Democrats, the university said.