Christie 4th Among Republicans For President in 2016

There is no front-runner now for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. A new national poll conducted by Quinnipiac University and released today reveals that in a five-way horse race no candidate gets above 19 percent among Republican voters. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie comes in fourth.

Christie ran better than other Republicans against top Democrats in a March 7 survey of all American voters, but gets only 14 percent of Republican voters today.

Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio gets 19 percent, with 17 percent for U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, 15 percent for U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and 10 percent for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Other contenders are at 3 percent or less.

“Three years before the nominating process, the Republicans have no clear favorite,” says Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Sen. Marco Rubio benefits from his exposure giving the GOP response to the State of the Union while Congressman Paul Ryan is known as the Republican vice presidential candidate, but history tells us being the running-mate on a losing ticket does not help one’s presidential chances. The last three Republicans in that spot were Sarah Palin, Jack Kemp and Dan Quayle, while the Democrats in that role were John Edwards, Joe Lieberman and Lloyd Bentsen.”

The March 7 poll, pitting Vice President Joseph Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo against Christie, Ryan or Rubio showed Christie was the second most popular leader, topping Biden and Cuomo but trailing Clinton.

“History indicates that Republicans who win the White House tend to be former governors and there are several thinking about running for the White House in 2016,” says Brown. “New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie is obviously the best known at this point, and Jeb Bush makes the top five, but Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell barely register in this survey.”

From March 26 – April 1, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,711 registered voters with a margin of error of +/- 2.4 percentage points. The survey includes 712 Republicans with a margin of error of +/- 3.7 percent.