Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has nearly twice the support of competitors Gov. Scott Walker and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul in a new national poll of likely Republican voters released Thursday afternoon.
The survey from the Saint Leo University Polling Institute had Bush with 15 percent, and 27 percent expect him to end up the Republican nominee, just like his father and brother were.
Seven challengers are jumbled in the 7 percent to 8 percent range, including the Wisconsin governor, Paul, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
From the JebBushStore.com
“The good news for Governor Bush is he’s in front, he has twice as much support as anyone else, and none of the other candidates breaks into double digits. The bad news is his share of the vote is lower than most front runners in recent elections at this point in the cycle. Still, the fact that an even larger percentage of voters believe he will win shows his strength in the primary,” said Frank Orlando, instructor of political science at the Florida university.
Orlando noted Cruz’s numbers, especially since the senator just became the first announced candidate of 2016. But he added that “only 2 percent thought he would most likely win the Republican nomination for president in 2016.”
Questions were posed to likely Republican voters this way, with the following results.
We know it’s early, but thinking about the presidential election in 2016 … here is a list of potential candidates who may run for the Republican nomination. If the Republican primary for president were held today, which one of the following would you support for the Republican nomination?
15% Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush
8% Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker
8% U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky
7% U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida
7% Dr. Ben Carson
7% New Jersey Governor Chris Christie
7% U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas
7% Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee
5% Former Texas Governor Rick Perry
3% U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of SC
3% Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum of PA
2% Ohio Governor John Kasich
2% Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal
2% New York Congressman Peter King
2% Former New York Governor George Pataki
2% Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina
1% Indiana Governor Mike Pence
1% Former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore
<1% Former Ambassador John Bolton
<1% Former Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich
2% Someone else
7% Don’t know / not sure
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
