Aki Soga

Free Press Engagement and Insights Editor

In a week when Bernie Sanders was running up a string of caucus victories by big margins, Hillary Clinton managed to make headlines for topping the leading Republicans in hypothetical head-to-head match ups.

At least two of these polls gauging likely contests in the General Election between a Democratic and Republican candidate shared two notable characteristics.

The first was that John Kasich, currently running a very distant third in the GOP race, beat Clinton in both polls. The second was that neither poll looked at how the Republicans might do against Sanders.

VtPoli: A good week for Bernie Sanders

A Monmouth University Poll released Thursday showed Clinton leading GOP frontrunner Donald Trump 48 percent to 38 percent, and ahead of Ted Cruz 45 percent to 40 percent. Clinton trailed John Kasich 45 percent to 39 percent.

A Zogby Analytics Poll released Friday had Clinton beating Trump by 47 percent to 40 percent, and Cruz by 47 percent to 41 percent. Like Manmouth, Zogby had Kasich ahead of Clinton, in this case by 44 percent to 41 percent.

A third poll, by CNN/ORC international also released on Thursday, delved into the question of who voters think would win in a contest between the two candidates who lead their respective party's nomination race. As CNN reported, "Overall, 56 percent say they think Clinton would win a match-up between the two leading candidates in November while 42 percent say Trump would take it."

Because of the way the question was posed, there was no room for Sanders or the other Republican candidates in the poll.

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Failing to make the news were a number of polls that came out earlier in the week that showed, in every instance, Sanders doing significantly better against the top Republican candidates than Clinton. Kasich does the best against both Democrats (see the polls at the bottom of this story).

One of the ideas kicking around the Democratic nomination race is electability -- who has the better chance of beating the eventual Republican opponent. Those in the Clinton camp has long asserted that their candidate had the broadest appeal among the electorate and that Sanders, who espouses socialist ideas, would face a tougher race in November.

The polls so far say Sanders would do better against Trump, Cruz and Kasich than Clinton.

Keep in mind, the numbers people at FiveThrityEight have repeatedly warned against putting too much stock in polls about hypothetical General Election match ups.

Follow Aki Soga on Twitter: @asoga

Fox News Poll: Cruz, Kasich ahead of Clinton in 2016 hypothetical matchups | Fox News