Kasich would beat Clinton and redraw US election map, analysis finds - if only he could get past Trump and Cruz

Either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz would lose the fall presidential election to Hillary Clinton in a state-by-state electoral trouncing, identical or nearly identical to the one that crushed Mitt Romney four years ago, according to a new analysis being released Wednesday.

But John Kasich would rewrite the map, taking several states away from the Democratic column and winning the White House — if he could win the Republican nomination, which right now seems well out of his grasp.

Kasich, the governor of Ohio, would win the general election by beating Clinton in several areas where Obama triumphed over Romney, notably Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, according to the study by Morning Consult, a non-partisan research firm.

The key difference is likability. Kasich scores well. Trump and Cruz do not.

To win the White House, a candidate needs 270 of the 538 electoral votes. Four years ago, Obama won 332 and Romney won 206.

To forecast this year’s election with Clinton as the Democratic nominee, Morning Consult surveyed 44,000 registered voters from January until the first week of this month, then used a statistical technique to break down opinions into state-level results.