Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump holds a campaign rally at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center on April 21 in Harrisburg, Pa. | Getty Rare Indiana poll shows Trump and Clinton narrowly ahead

Donald Trump tops his Republican rivals in Indiana, according to a WTHR/Howey Politics poll released on Friday.

Trump leads with 37 percent support in the state, which votes on May 3, followed by Ted Cruz at 31 percent and John Kasich at 22 percent.


Among Indiana Democrats, Hillary Clinton holds a somewhat narrower lead over Bernie Sanders.

Clinton has a 3-point advantage over the Vermont senator, 48 percent to 45 percent. Core Democrats favor Clinton by a 13-point margin (53 percent to 40 percent), but Sanders performs better among occasional and first-time voters by even wider margins (55 percent to 40 percent among occasional voters and 66 percent to 27 percent among first-time voters).

Though Clinton and Trump are leading their respective primaries, both have high unfavorables among general-election voters. Clinton’s net favorability is -30 percent (33 percent favorable, 63 percent unfavorable) among general election voters but +40 percent (68 percent favorable, 28 percent unfavorable) among Democratic voters.

Meanwhile, Trump’s net favorability among the general electorate in Indiana is -28 percent (33 percent favorable, 61 percent unfavorable) but +26 percent (56 percent favorable, 30 percent unfavorable) among Republicans.

President Barack Obama carried Indiana by 1 percentage point over Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2008 but lost the state to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney four years later.

As for 2016, in a hypothetical general-election match-up, both Trump and Cruz top Clinton. Trump leads the former secretary of state 47 percent to 39 percent, while Cruz's advantage over Clinton more than doubles Trump's, 53 percent to 36 percent.

Any voter can participate in either of Indiana's primaries — a possible boon to Trump and Sanders, who have performed well among independent voters.

The poll of 500 likely Democratic and Republican voters was conducted April 18-21 via landlines and cellphones. The Democratic sample has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.47 percentage points, while the Republican sample’s margin of error is plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.