The latest polling from Public Policy Polling shows a continued jumble at the top of the Republican Party ticket.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has a nominal, narrow lead, at 17 percent, to 15 percent for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, 13 percent for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, 12 percent for Ben Carson and 11 percent for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Digging into the internals, Walker’s lead is due to his strength with voters who self-identify as very conservative. Among that subgroup in the Republican primary electorate, Walker gets 23 percent, to 17 percent for Carson, 13 percent for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and 11 percent for Huckabee.
The presumptive best mainstream candidate, Bush, starts out with one big negative facing down his candidacy – in the form of a negative favorability rating. Thirty-seven percent of GOP primary voters view Bush favorably, with 40 percent holding an unfavorable view. That underwater trend is more pronounced among the very conservative: 32 percent of that subgroup view him favorably, and 51 percent view him unfavorably.
Also underwater: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (26 percent favorable/49 percent unfavorable), Lindsey Graham (16 percent favorable/39 percent unfavorable), George Pataki (10 percent favorable/30 percent unfavorable), and Donald Trump (38 percent favorable/43 percent unfavorable).
Two key points of strength are visible for Rubio in the internals – he is viewed favorably by 50 percent of Republican voters, with only 16 percent holding a negative view, and he is the most frequently named second choice for GOP voters, suggesting that he could gain as other candidates fall out of the race.
More online on the Public Policy Polling website: click here.
– Story by Chris Graham
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