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Poll: Romney’s favorability lower than Trump’s

by Jesse Byrnes - 03/31/16 1:41 PM ET

Mitt Romney’s national favorability rating is even lower than Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s, according to a new poll.

The 2012 GOP presidential nominee is viewed favorably by 23 percent of registered voters, according to the left-leaning Public Policy Polling survey released Thursday, while 65 percent view him unfavorably.

{mosads}Trump is viewed favorably by 29 percent, while 63 percent hold an unfavorable view.

Romney denounced Trump during a major speech earlier this month, calling him a “fraud.” He’s since campaigned against the businessman.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) also faces stark numbers, with 37 percent of those polled approving of his handling of Speaker duties and 44 percent disapproving.

The poll saved its harshest numbers for Congress in general: A whopping 79 percent of voters disapprove of the job Congress is doing, while 13 percent approve.

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both hold double-digit leads over Trump and GOP rival Ted Cruz in hypothetical head-to-head matchups.

Clinton would beat Trump by 7 points and Sanders by 8 points, the poll found. The margins are narrower for Cruz: Clinton would beat the Texas senator by 3 points and the Vermont senator by 7 points.

GOP candidate John Kasich leads both Democrats in hypothetical head-to-head races. The Ohio governor tops Clinton by 4 points and Sanders by 3 points.

The two Democrats also lead both Romney and Ryan in hypothetical head-to-heads.

Romney and Ryan, who ran on the GOP White House ticket in 2012, have both repeatedly denied interest in running for president this year, despite the potential for a contested convention to select a nominee.

The survey of 1,083 registered voters was conducted March 24–26 via landlines and the Internet with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Tags 2016 GOP primary 2016 presidential election Bernie Sanders contested convention Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Paul Ryan Ted Cruz