Far be it from us to decline the opportunity to look at some early 2016 polling numbers after Jeb Bush's
tortured not-so-announcement announcement Tuesday. (Anyone else wonder how many consultants he paid to write that Tweet?)
Here's the topline: the field is wide open when Republicans are asked to simply name a candidate whom they would like to see nominated, but Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush lead the pack when people are given a list to choose from.
First, the results of a Monmouth University poll released Monday:
When asked to name who they would like to see as the party’s nominee for president, Republicans and Republican leaning voters volunteer more than a dozen names, with none exceeding 10% support. Contenders include Mitt Romney (8%), Ben Carson (7%), Chris Christie (7%), Jeb Bush (6%), Ted Cruz (5%), Rand Paul (5%), Mike Huckabee (3%), Scott Walker (3%), Bobby Jindal (2%), Rick Perry (2%), Marco Rubio (2%), and Rick Santorum (1%).
Now, the
McLatchy-Marist poll that has Romney and Bush leading a Republican field of 15 potential candidates when GOP voters were asked who they would support.
Mitt Romney: 19%
Jeb Bush: 14%
Chris Christie: 9%
Mike Huckabee: 9%
Ben Carson: 8%
Rand Paul: 5%
Ted Cruz: 4%
Rick Perry: 4%
Paul Ryan: 3%
Rick Santorum: 3%
Marco Rubio: 3%
Scott Walker: 3%
John Kasich: 2%
Bobby Jindal: 1%
Carly Fiorina: 1%
So good to see some of the perennial favorites like Huckabee and Santorum mixed in with fresh faces like Carson, isn't it?
The early money says that Romney's less likely to run now that Bush has announced. If you take Mittens out of the race, Bush's lot goes up to 16 percent, Huckabee takes second with 12 percent, and Christie remains third with 10 percent, which suggests that more Romney supporters move to Huckabee than either Bush or Christie.
So among the top four (Romney, Bush, Christie, and Huckabee), who fares best against Hillary Clinton with general election voters? They all hover right around 40-41 percent, with Clinton taking 53 percent of the vote.