Either Democratic presidential candidate could handily defeat Republican frontrunner Donald Trump in the general election, according to a new CNN/ORC poll.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leads Trump 52 percent to 44 percent among registered voters and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) leads Trump 55 percent to 43 percent, according to the poll.

These estimates line up with other polling data -- HuffPost Pollster's average has shown Clinton and Sanders polling higher than Trump, although prinmary poll matchups aren't predictive of what will happen once the general election campaigns start.

But if Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) or Ted Cruz (R-Texas) were nominated instead of Trump, Clinton might face more of an uphill battle, according to the poll -- Rubio tops Clinton at 50 percent to 47 percent and Cruz slightly leads 49 percent to 48 percent.

Sanders, meanwhile, holds a steady lead over all top three Republican candidates in the poll -- 57 percent to 40 percent against Cruz, 55 percent to 43 percent against Trump, and 53 percent to 45 percent against Rubio.

The independent senator is also viewed as the most favorable candidate in both parties, with 60 percent of registered voters holding a positive view of him, whereas the majority of voters view both Clinton and Trump unfavorably. However, Sanders hasn't yet faced the scrutiny that he would face in a general election campaign.

As for issues of concern to Americans, Trump is viewed as most capable of handling the economy, terrorism and immigration. Clinton topped the list for healthcare, race relations and foreign policy.

CNN/ORC interviewed 920 registered voters February 24-27. The margin of sampling error for results based on the total sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Voters in 13 states and one U.S. territory head to the polls Tuesday to vote in primaries or caucuses.

Editor's Note: Donald Trump is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist, birther and bully who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S.

The Huffington Post