A new CNN/ORC poll shows Hillary Clinton dominating the Republican field ... which pretty much explains the Republican obsession with Eghazi and Benghazi and any other eye-roller of an allegation they can come up with. In the poll's
head-to-head match-ups, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul comes the closest to Clinton, but her 11-point lead over him, 54 percent to 43 percent, isn't what you'd call razor thin.
After Paul, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio trails Clinton by a mere 13 points, 55 to 42, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is one more point back, drawing 41 percent to Clinton's steady 55 percent, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie all poll 15 points behind Clinton, 55 to 40. Former neurosurgeon Ben Carson also polls at 40 percent, but Clinton gains an extra point on him, rising to 56 percent.
Of course, getting 55 percent in a presidential campaign would be an epic win, and the final result will certainly be closer after a long, ugly campaign. But it's a better place to start than where these Republicans currently are, struggling to improve name recognition and, in Jeb Bush's case, with their favorability 16 points underwater. Yet, perhaps thanks to his higher name recognition, Bush leads the Republican primary field in this poll, drawing 16 percent, with Scott Walker following at 13 percent and Rand Paul at 12. These guys are going to have to scrap and claw and climb over each other to get to the nomination, and only then will they get to face the woman currently kicking their ass in the polls.
No wonder their party is working so hard to distract voters with manufactured Clinton scandals.
