A new poll finds Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee leading as prospective 2016 Republican presidential candidates. I gave this take here in The Week about how Paul might get the nomination. Some strongly disagree. But polls show Paul is way up there which is still no guarantee he’ll make it to the GOP heap’s top.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee lead the likely Republican field for the 2016 presidential nomination, according to a new poll released Saturday.
Huckabee and Paul each drew 13 percent of the poll’s respondents, published by WPA Opinion Research. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was the only other Republican to garner double digit support, pulling in 11 percent.
Watch Jeb. Reports increasingly suggest he is indeed interested but is pulling a Hillary and dancing around whether he’ll run or not (a good strategy).
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) rounded out the top five, each pulling in 9 percent. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), who was the party’s vice presidential nominee in 2012, was the choice of 6 percent of respondents, tying with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
AND:
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wisc.), who spent Saturday appearing before a Republican Jewish Coalition meeting in Las Vegas, was the choice of 5 percent of those surveyed. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Sen. Rick Santorum each earned 3 percent, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry rounded out the field with just 1 percent. Of the Republican voters surveyed, nearly two in 10 said they did not have a preference on who would became the GOP’s 2016 pick.
And yes, the poll and The Hill’s piece note that you can’t rule Christie out (yet):
Christie, a relative moderate in the group, appeared to be buoyed by Republican voters’ belief he had the best chance to win a general election. Asked who would be able to defeat former secretary of state Hillary Clinton — the heavy favorite for the Democratic nominee, should she decide to run — 13 percent selected both Christie and Paul.
“Christie is clearly not the first choice among GOP voters overall, but when you look at which candidate Republicans believe can beat Hillary Clinton there is evidence that the theory a moderate Republican can beat a liberal Democrat still holds some sway,” Wilson said.
As I’ve noted before, Paul has shown a desire to be a much more widely supported candidate that his father both in his positions and the kind of political rhetoric he uses:
The survey also showed that Paul appeared to be earning support from primary voters who had spurned the campaigns of his father, former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).
“While young voters are his best group, Paul also manages to pull in support from other age groups as well,” Wilson said. “He wins 16 percent of the 65-74 age group. Given that Christie support is driven from the moderate side of the party, his best move may be to move the conversation away from ideology to the idea that he is best positioned to beat Hillary.”
On Thursday, the Washington Post reported that Paul was assembling a 50-state support team to assist a possible presidential bid. The Kentucky Republican was also the winner of the CPAC straw poll earlier this month.
As many have noted, the CPAC poll is not a great tea leaf when it comes to the nominee.
But it does show a candidate has a segment of support that could be useful IF the candidate can broaden his or her support. Which is clearly what Paul is attemping to do.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.