Poll: Christie, Clinton Lead Possible 2016 Primary Fields

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, smiles as she introduces her husband former President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2013.
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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton each lead the fields of potential Republican and Democratic primary opponents for the 2016 presidential nomination, a new poll found.

The CNN/ORC poll released Friday found that 24 percent of Republicans and Independents who are likely to vote Republican in the next presidential election would back Christie. That’s an increase of 7 percentage points from the last CNN poll that included the question in September. Thirteen percent, meanwhile, said they would back Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) in the GOP Republican primary followed by 11 percent for Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), and 10 percent for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

No other Republican listed in the poll got double digit support. The poll found that 9 percent of voters in the 2016 GOP primary would vote for Rubio. Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush each got 7 percent support, the poll found and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), the runner up in the 2012 Republican primary, got 6 percent support.

For the 2016 Democratic primary, 63 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents said they would back Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary, the poll found. Just 12 percent said they would back Vice President Joe Biden in a 2016 primary. Behind Clinton and Biden, 7 percent said they would vote for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) if she decided to run for president in 2016, 5 percent said they would support New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and 2 percent said they would back Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.

The CNN/ORC International poll was conducted Nov. 18 through Nov. 20 among 843 adults. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points and a margin of error for just Republicans or just Democrats was 5 percentage points.

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