Less than six weeks before the Pennsylvania primary election, Hillary Clinton dominates the Democratic presidential race in the state while Donald Trump narrowly leads the Republican contest, according to a new Franklin & Marshall College poll released Wednesday.

In the Democratic U.S. Senate race, Joe Sestak has moved to a commanding lead over Katie McGinty, the poll found.

The poll found Mrs. Clinton, a former secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady, had the support of more than half of Democrats (53 percent) with almost three in 10 voters (28 percent) backing Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The Pennsylvania primary is April 26.

Mr. Trump, a billionaire businessman, had the support of a third of voters (33 percent), Ohio Gov. John Kasich three in 10 (30 percent) and Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz one in five (20 percent).

Mrs. Clinton also led both Mr. Trump (46 to 33 percent) and Mr. Cruz (45 to 35 percent) in theoretical head-to-head general election matchups. The poll did not ask about a head-to-head matchup between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Kasich.

The poll surveyed 408 Democratic registered voters and 312 Republicans with margins of error of plus or minus 4.7 percentage points for the Democratic sample and plus or minus 5.4 points for the Republican one. For the entire sample of 828 voters surveyed, the margin of error is plus or minus 3.3 points. The poll was conducted between March 14 and Sunday.

G. Terry Madonna, Ph.D., the poll director, said none of the results in the presidential races should come as a surprise. Mrs. Clinton, with her ties to Scranton and past campaigns here by her and her husband, President Bill Clinton, is well-known in Pennsylvania, he said.

"It's going to be hugely difficult if not virtually impossible ... for Sanders to catch her in this state," Dr. Madonna said. "This is a quintessential Clinton state."

Mrs. Clinton dominates the polling everywhere but the northwest, where she only leads to Mr. Sanders by 3 percentage points (46 percent to 43 percent). Her largest advantages are in Philadelphia (63 percent to 25 percent), home of the largest bloc of African-American voters, and the northeast (55 percent to 19 percent).

Mr. Trump's narrow lead reflects the moderate-to-conservative nature of Pennsylvania Republicans with the differences between him and Mr. Kasich most visible in where they draw support. Mr. Trump does best against Mr. Kasich in blue-collar areas like the southwest (46 percent to 30 percent) and northeast (40 percent to 25 percent) while Mr. Kasich does best in the southeast (37 percent to 26 percent). Mr. Cruz does best in the central part of the state (25 percent) but still narrowly trails Mr. Kasich (29 percent) and Mr. Trump (28 percent) there.

"What we have seen is consistent with what we have seen in other states in the exit polls," he said.

Perhaps most surprising is Mr. Sestak's surge in the Senate race.

Mr. Sestak had the support of almost one third of Democrats (31 percent) to Ms. McGinty's one in seven (14 percent). Braddock Mayor John Fetterman had the support of about one in 14 voters (7 percent). Joe Vodvarka, the spring and wire-form manufacturing company owner, had no support.

Mr. Sestak has gone from leading by 4 points in a January F&M poll and 9 points in February to a 17-point lead in the latest, all before anyone airs large numbers of television commercials.

That's a large lead, but with almost half of voters undecided, Ms. McGinty is hardly through, Dr. Madonna said.

"The commercials have just started. In a quintessential TV state, ... they're still going through the motions of getting some statewide name recognition," Ms. McGinty said. "Even though he has a sizable lead, there are still way too many voters in the Democratic Party who haven't made up their mind."

Mr. Sestak is benefitting from his past name recognition based on his well-defined positions on national security and inveterate campaigning. He has already campaigned across the state for a year while Ms. McGinty joined the race in August and is only begin to define what she stands for.

"He's an indefatigable campaigner," Dr. Madonna said. " I think that's all paid off."

The winner of the Democratic Senate race will face U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, unopposed for the Republican nomination.

Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com