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Quinnipiac Poll: Rubio, Paul Only GOP Hopefuls That Come Close to Clinton
Thursday, May 28, 2015 06:27 AM
By: Melissa Clyne
While Hillary Clinton continues to dominate the Democratic field of candidates running for president in 2016, a Republican frontrunner has yet to emerge, a new Quinnipiac University Poll finds, with a five-way tie for the top spot.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker each received 10 percent.
Twenty-percent of GOP voters who participated in the poll remain undecided.
After the five-way split at the top, the next five are U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky (7 percent), U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas (6 percent), business tycoon Donald Trump at (5 percent), New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (4 percent) and 2 percent each for former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
The top 10 will receive invitations to participate in televised debates.
The poll, however, shows only two, Rubio and Paul, are threats to Clinton in hypothetical matchups, each coming within three to four points of the former First Lady if the race were held today.
In a sign of how large numbers of Americans have yet to begin processing the early stages of the presidential race, 20 percent of respondents said they did not yet have a favored candidate.
"Safe to say, the 2016 Republican presidential primary is anyone's race," said Quinnipiac's assistant director Tim Malloy.
"With no front-runner and identical numbers for the top five contenders, it's a horserace which can only be described as a scrambled field -- at least so far."
With the GOP nomination contest wide open, the Democratic side was all about Clinton.
Clinton, aiming to become the nation's first-ever female president, earned 57 percent support -- a three-point drop compared to an April 24 Quinnipiac poll, but still well ahead of socialist-leaning Senator Bernie Sanders, with 15 percent.
Vice President Joe Biden, who has flirted with a run but has yet to take many of the steps seen as prerequisites to a campaign launch, was third at 9 percent.
Martin O'Malley, a recent two-term Maryland governor who is expected to launch his presidential bid Saturday, barely registered with 1 percent support.
In hypothetical matchups with her Republican rivals, only Paul and Rubio posed threats. Clinton came out on top 46 percent to 42 percent against Paul, and 45-41 versus Rubio.
Clinton cruised against the other Republicans, including a 47-37 advantage over Bush, the son and brother of two former presidents.
But on qualities seen as important for the highest executive office, it was a mixed bag for Clinton.
Voters by 53 to 39 percent said Clinton is not honest and trustworthy, but they responded 60-37 percent that she has strong leadership qualities.
They are split, 48-47, over whether Clinton cares about their needs and problems.
"Can you get low marks on honesty and still be a strong leader? Sure you can," Malloy said.
"Hillary Clinton crushes her democratic rivals and keeps the GOP hoard at arm's length."
The May 19-26 poll surveyed 1,711 registered voters nationwide, and it has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.
