Jon Campbell

Albany Bureau

ALBANY - Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are outpacing their opponents in New York two months before the state's primary voters cast their ballots, according to a new poll.

Fifty-five percent of New York Democrats backed Clinton, the former first lady and secretary of state, in the Siena College poll released Monday, giving her a 21-point edge over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' 34 percent.

On the Republican side, Trump -- a native New Yorker -- beat out the crowded GOP field with support from 34 percent of New York Republicans polled, compared to 16 percent each for Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida.

The poll showed plenty of Trump detractors, too: 32 percent of GOP voters polled said he was the candidate they least want to see win the nomination.

New York's presidential primary is set for April 19 -- one of three sets of primary elections slated to take place in the state this year.

“Trump’s overall 18-point lead is even larger among New York City Republicans, who give him a 26-point lead over Rubio, and downstate suburbanites, who give him a 27-point lead over Rubio," Siena pollster Steve Greenberg said in a statement. "For upstate Republicans, this is a barnburner with Trump at 24 percent, followed by Cruz with 20 percent, (New Jersey Gov. Chris) Christie at 18 percent and Rubio with 17 percent."

Among all voters, Trump's favorability rating is very low: Just 25 percent of New York voters view him favorably, compared to 71 percent who view him unfavorably, according to the poll. It's a more even split among Republicans: 51 percent favorable, 43 percent unfavorable.

Clinton -- who represented New York in the Senate from 2001 through 2008 -- has a higher favorability rating among Democrats than Sanders, with 73 percent viewing Clinton in a positive light and 63 percent saying the same about Sanders. But among all New York voters, Sanders edges out Clinton, with 51 percent viewing him favorably compared to Clinton's 50 percent.

When matched in a head-to-head race, the Democratic candidates outpaced each of the Republican candidates, including Trump.

In a hypothetical Clinton-Trump matchup, Clinton came out on top 57-32 percent among registered voters in the state, the poll showed. Sanders fared even better, besting Trump in a head-to-head matchup 63-30 percent.

Siena polled 935 voters in the state between Jan. 31 and Feb. 3, including 434 Democrats and 235 Republicans. The poll had an overall margin of error of 3.8 percentage points, while it was 5.8 points for Democratic questions and 7 points for Republican questions, according to the poll.