--- title: Hillary Clinton Beats Donald Trump in General Election Poll description: Hillary Clinton is starting the general election with a big lead against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. canonical: https://time.com/4317581/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-general-election-poll/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-04T13:45:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:48:21.960Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton Up Big Against Donald Trump in New Poll og:description: She's up by 13 points to start og:url: https://time.com/4317581/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-general-election-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0dcba1c654803c4/69889121e20a871afaa90a0a/trump-clinton1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: trump-clinton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton Up Big Against Donald Trump in New Poll twitter:description: She's up by 13 points to start twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0dcba1c654803c4/69889121e20a871afaa90a0a/trump-clinton1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hillary Clinton Up Big Against Donald Trump in New Poll > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=a71dfca8-c32e-413f-aadb-af2173c4f29d&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White May 4, 2016 1:45 PM UTC  Hillary Clinton in New Haven, Connecticut on April 23, 2016 (R); Donald Trump in New York City, on April 21, 2016. Hillary Clinton in New Haven, Connecticut on April 23, 2016 (R); Donald Trump in New York City, on April 21, 2016. Justin Sullivan—Getty Images (R); John Lamparski—Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White May 4, 2016 1:45 PM UTC The general election [began in earnest Wednesday](http://time.com/4316170/indiana-primary-results-donald-trump-ted-cruz-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-republicans/), and likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is [starting with a big lead](http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2016/images/05/04/rel6b.-.2016.general.pdf) against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. That’s according to [a new CNN/ORC national poll](http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/04/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-poll-general-election/index.html) released Wednesday, the day after Trump all but clinched the GOP race with a primary victory in Indiana that [forced Ted Cruz to drop out](http://time.com/4317299/ted-cruz-drops-out-ends-campaign-indiana-primary-analysis/). Clinton lost Indiana to her Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, who has vowed to continue his campaign to the convention, but Clinton’s delegate lead has become insurmountable. The survey found Clinton starting the general election with a 13-point advantage against Trump. Both candidates, however, are viewed unfavorably. Clinton is underwater by just one point (48% view her favorably, compared to 49% unfavorably. But Trump is in a deeper hole, with only 39% viewing him favorably and 57% unfavorably. Clinton’s 54%-41% advantage over Trump is her largest since July. Her supporters are split over their reasons for backing her, with 51% saying they are voting for her to oppose Trump. On the Republican side, 57% of his supporters back him to [prevent another Clinton from entering the White House](http://time.com/4262504/to-take-out-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-must-first-stop-acting-like-a-politician/). The survey of 1,001 Americans, conducted April 28-May 1, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3%. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4317581/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-general-election-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4317581/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-general-election-poll/"},"headline":"Hillary Clinton Up Big Against Donald Trump in New Poll","datePublished":"2016-05-04T13:45:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:48:21.960Z","description":"She's up by 13 points to start","url":"https://time.com/4317581/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-general-election-poll/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","Polls","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0dcba1c654803c4/69889121e20a871afaa90a0a/trump-clinton1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf0dcba1c654803c4/69889121e20a871afaa90a0a/trump-clinton1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"trump-clinton","caption":"Hillary Clinton in New Haven, Connecticut on April 23, 2016 (R); Donald Trump in New York City, on April 21, 2016.","creditText":"Justin Sullivan—Getty Images (R); John Lamparski—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4317581/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-general-election-poll/","name":"Hillary Clinton Up Big Against Donald Trump in New Poll"}}]}] ```