Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:07 pm
A CNN/ORC poll released on July 1st finds Hillary Clinton crushing her GOP opposition. The survey tested Clinton against five hypothetical Republican opponents. The five Republicans pitted against Clinton in the survey were former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and businessman Donald Trump. Clinton holds a commanding lead over all five GOP hopefuls in head to head match-ups.
With registered voters, Clinton’s polling lead ranges from a 13 point advantage over Jeb Bush to a ridiculously lopsided 24 point margin over Donald Trump. She leads Marco Rubio by 16 percentage points, and she holds a 17 point lead over both Chris Christie and Scott Walker.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
While Clinton has been the focus of considerable negative press coverage over the past several months, her standing against Republicans remains strong. The 14 candidate, and still growing, Republican field has taken on a circus like atmosphere. Yet, while each presidential campaign roll out generates a great deal of media attention, voters seem unimpressed with what Republican candidates have to offer.
Nowhere is voter distrust of Republicans more obvious than in the case of the bombastic Donald Trump. While he has vaulted to 2nd place with Republican primary voters by capitalizing on their anxiety about illegal immigration, his xenophobic and racist remarks have not endeared him to the wider electorate. If Donald Trump secures the GOP nomination he could set the GOP up for a historic landslide defeat, as evidenced by current polling which shows him down 59-35 percent against Hillary Clinton.
Even the “more serious” Republican candidates like Jeb Bush and Scott Walker trail badly in the polls. Although polls this far ahead of an election seldom have much predictive value, they do illustrate that the GOP is not connecting with voters right now. None of the Republican candidates have gained enough traction to be considered competitive yet.
As the election draws nearer and as the GOP continues to mount sustained attacks against Hillary Clinton, the polls will almost certainly tighten. Nevertheless, with the large GOP field still in disarray, and with each candidate pandering to a staunchly conservative Republican base at the expense of alienating moderate and Independent voters, the 2016 election is still Hillary’s race to win or lose. Given the current state of the race and the unpopularity of the Republican field, Clinton’s odds look favorable.
Keith Brekhus is a progressive American who currently resides in Red Lodge, Montana. He is co-host for the Liberal Fix radio show. He holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Missouri. In 2002, he ran for Congress as a Green Party candidate in the state of Missouri. In 2014, he worked as a field organizer for Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick’s successful re-election bid in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District. He can be followed on Twitter @keithbrekhus or on Facebook.
