Republicans are racing to the top, but Hillary’s already there.
That’s the familiar story in a new poll on 2016 presidential candidates, which shows slight movement among White House contenders.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to dominate the race for the Democratic presidential ticket, while it is still a close race on the Republican side, according to a CNN/ORC poll.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — who has not yet formally declared — has a slight lead in the Republican field, though no clear leader has yet emerged. Overall, 17 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents back Bush, compared to 12 percent who support Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio — who have both launched their respective campaigns within recent weeks — garner 11-percent support, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 9 percent and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at 7 percent.
Retired Johns Hopkins head of neurosurgery Ben Carson and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — both whom were near the lead last fall — have dropped significantly, each now garnering 4 percent.
Though Bush has the edge in many categories for Republicans — he is most often named as the candidate with the right experience to be the president (27 percent), the one with the best chance of beating the Democratic nominee in the general election (26 percent) and the strongest leader in the GOP field (21 percent), he does have two challengers in another metric.
While 18 percent view Bush as the candidate who best represents the future of the Republican party, they say the same for Rubio. Paul garners 10 percent, the only other GOP candidate polling in double digits on this question.
However, when compared to Clinton, Bush fails to stand apart from the Republican field — as all eight Republicans tested trail her by a large margin.
Against Clinton, Rubio fares the best, trailing her by 14 points. Bush trails Clinton by 17 points (56 percent to 39 percent). Christie and Paul both trail Clinton by 19 points (58 percent to 39 percent), while Huckabee, Walker, Carson and Cruz each trail by more than 20 points.
On the Democratic side, Clinton’s nomination seems in the bag.
Nearly seven in 10 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents support her. Overall, 69 percent back Clinton over Vice President Joe Biden (11 percent), Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, (5 percent), former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb (3 percent), former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee (1 percent) and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (1 percent).
Democrats also give Clinton a handy lead in several presidential characteristics: as a strong an decisive leader (88 percent) and having a vision for the country’s future (99 percent). About eight in 10 (82 percent) of Democrats say she represents the future of their party.
Her only weak point? Only about half of Democratic men (49 percent) would be enthusiastic about Clinton’s as the Democratic Party’s 2016 nominee, compared to nearly two-thirds of Democratic women (65 percent).
The telephone interview of roughly 435 Republicans and 460 Democrats U.S. adults was conducted April 16-19 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for each group.
