U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton receives applause upon her departure from her last day in office at the State Department in Washington February 1, 2013.
A new Quinnipiac poll finds Hillary Clinton at the top of the potential 2016 presidential field. In this early survey, she runs ahead of three major Republican contenders, topping Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan (50% to 38%), New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (45% to 37%), and Florida Senator Marco Rubio (50% to 34%).
“Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would start a 2016 presidential campaign with enormous advantages,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “She obviously is by far the best known and her more than 20 years in the public spotlight allows her to create a very favorable impression on the American people. But it is worth noting that she had very good poll numbers in 2006 looking toward the 2008 election, before she faced a relative unknown in Barack Obama.”
Other Democrats did not fare as well as Clinton. Christie beat out Vice President Joe Biden, 43% to 40%, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, 45% to 28%. While Biden led Rubio, 45% to 38%, and Ryan, 45% to 42%, neither victory was as persuasive as Clinton’s. In the poll’s other hypothetical surveys, Ryan tops Cuomo, 42% to 37%, while Cuomo and Rubio are tied at 37%.
Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,944 registered voters from February 27 – March 4. The margin of error is +/- 2.2 percentage points.