Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 11:20 am
PPP released a poll on Thursday showing that former Arkansas Governor and current Fox News TV show host Mike Huckabee has jumped to the front of a crowded field of 2016 Republican Presidential candidates. The poll was conducted in Iowa, a key early-primary state. Apparently, Iowa Republicans are so confused about who to support that they are starting to think a far-right huckster like Mike ‘Uncle Sugar’ Huckabee sounds like a good choice.
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Much like in other statewide polls recently, Iowa shows that embattled New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has fallen out of favor, making the Republican field wide open. Normally, at this point, there would be at least 2 or 3 favorites among the field, creating distance between themselves and the also-rans. That is not the case this time around. Republicans have no idea who they are going to support so they are bouncing between awful candidates that have absolutely no chance to win a general election.
In the poll, Huckabee received support from 17% of the voters. There were seven other candidates that received at least 7% of the vote. After Huckabee, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul was second at 14%. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush placed third with 13%. The other two candidates with doubt-digit support, Christie and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, each received 10%. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal were all in high single-digits. Florida Senator Marco Rubio only received 3% of the vote.
Meanwhile, just like everywhere else, Hillary Clinton dominates the Democratic field. It really isn’t even close. As long as Hillary decides to run, the nomination is hers. In the poll, Clinton received an amazing 67% of the vote. Vice President Joe Biden was a distant second at 12%. No other candidate got over 5%. Among Iowa Democrats, Clinton’s favorability is off the charts, as 82% hold a favorable view of her while only 9% see her in a negative light. It also speaks to her high visibility, as most voters at least have some opinion of her. Outside of Biden, the other candidates face a large percentage of voters holding no opinion of them due to not being well-known enough.
Clinton is also ahead of every potential GOP candidate in a head-to-head matchup. Huckabee and Bush come the closest, as each trail by four points. Christie is behind by six points while Paul has a deficit of five points. This is pretty much right in line with how the state voted in 2012, as Obama defeated Romney 52-47.
While we are far away from the Presidential election, and a lot can still happen in the next 2 years, it is looking like the GOP’s chances of winning the White House in 2016 are non-existent. All the supposed swing states (Iowa, Ohio, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, etc.) are looking like they will stay Blue. Considering that Obama won with a margin of 126 electoral votes, if the GOP can’t flip a few states, let alone any, they are looking at certain defeat. As it stands now, they might be looking at an even bigger whooping than they received in November 2012.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
