Gallup: Republican Race for 2016 Nomination Wide Open
Published at
ABC/Ida Mae Astute(WASHINGTON) — A new Gallup poll found that four contenders for the GOP nomination in the 2016 presidential election stand well above the rest.
According to the latest polling data, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan and Texas Gov. Rick Perry are each “familiar” to more than 60 percent of Republican voters and Republican-leaning independents. They also each have favorability ratings of +40 or better.
Candidates such as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are about as familiar to voters as the above four, however, they each have below average favorability scores.
Other candidates considered in the Gallup poll included Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, whose favorability is countered by a lack of familiarity to nearly half of voters polled. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker were also considered, but received low ratings among voters in both favorability and familiarity.
Democratic voters gave former Bush the lowest favorability rating, while coming closest to showing approval for Jindal, who received unfavorable ratings from just 12 percent more Democratic voters than favorable ratings.
While the election remains over two years away, the Gallup poll indicates that while Hillary Clinton holds the position of front-runner for the Democratic nomination, no such position exists on the Republican side.
Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio