Donald Trump trails both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in a new CNN/ORC poll that took the pulse of voters in a series of hypothetical general election match-ups.

Research shows Clinton bests Trump 52 to 44 percent among registered voters, while fellow Democrat Sanders leads the Republican front-runner by an even wider margin at 55 to 43 percent.

Data also reveals Clinton would have a harder battle against either Florida Sen. Marco Rubio or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in a general election match-up than she would against the political neophyte Trump. In the same poll, Clinton trails both Rubio -- 50 to 47 percent -- and Cruz -- 49 to 48 percent.

Riding on the heels of his status as the candidate with the most positive favorable rating from either party, Sanders also leads both Rubio -- at 53 to 45 percent -- and Cruz -- 55 to 43 percent.

Voters Agree Nation More Deeply Divided Than Ever

Overall, 78 percent of all voters agree the nation is more deeply divided this election cycle than it has been at any time in recent memory.

Trump tops all the remaining candidates, regardless of party, when voters were asked who would handle the issues of immigration, the economy and terrorism. Clinton is the top choice when it comes to healthcare, race relations and foreign policy. Voters are about evenly split between Trump and Clinton on gun policy.

On the flip side, the two respective front-runners are also seen unfavorably by majorities of voters. Almost 6 in 10 have a negative view of Trump -- 59 percent to 38 percent. Fifty-three percent have a negative view of Clinton, with 44 percent of voters seeing her in a positive light.

Economy Most Critical Issue for Voters

Meanwhile, the economy overwhelmingly remains the most critical issue to voters, with 47 percent calling it most important as they prepare to make their final choices, followed by healthcare at 19 percent, terrorism at 14 percent, foreign policy at 10 percent and illegal immigration at 8 percent.

Both Clinton and Trump are also riding the wave of their hugely successful Super Tuesday showings on March 1. After all the votes were counted on the Democratic side, Clinton had won the states of Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Meanwhile, Trump captured Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia. Clinton now has 577 of the 2,383 delegates needed to win the party's nomination, while Trump has 319 of the 1,237 he needs.

Next up on the election calendar are caucuses in Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Nebraska and Louisiana.

The CNN/ORC Poll was conducted by telephone Feb. 24 to 27 among a random national sample of 1,001 adults. Results from the sample of 920 registered voters have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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