Florida Poll: Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush Top the Field for 2016

Before the actual presidential primary races begin, the media and political pollsters are doing their best to attempt to define who the Republican and Democrat presidential nominees will be in 2016.

While all polls and media types will tell you that Hillary Clinton will be the Democrat Party’s nominee for president in 2016, some will say that potential Republican presidential candidates like Senator Marco Rubio need to keep their day jobs and not run for president.

It seem as if the media is hell-bent on seeing a Bush-Clinton presidential match-up in 2016 and are quick to dismiss anyone else who could make a run for the White House.

According to the Palm Beach Post, the latest Quinnipiac University presidential poll conducted in Florida, Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush are neck and neck, but in head-to-head match-ups with Clinton, the rest of the potential Republican presidential candidates for president are being crushed.

In Florida, Clinton leads Bush by a 44-to-43 percent margin, which is within the poll’s 3.2 percent margin of error. She tops Sen. Marco Rubio by a 49-to-39 percent margin and holds bigger leads over Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Clinton is viewed favorably by 53 percent of Florida voters and unfavorably by 39 percent. Bush’s favorable/unfavorable percentages in his home state are 46/38. Opinion of Rubio is split evenly at 36 percent in Florida.

The Florida poll was conducted Jan. 22-Feb. 1 with a 936-voter sample in which 33 percent of voters self-identified as Democrats, 28 percent as Republicans and 30 percent as independents.

In Ohio, Gov. John Kasich is in a virtual tie with Clinton, getting 43 percent to her 44 percent. Clinton tops Bush in the Buckeye State by a 47-to-36 percent margin.

In Pennsylvania, Clinton tops Bush by a 50-to-35 percent margin. The strongest Republican in Pennyslvania is Christie; he trails Clinton by a 50-to-39 percent margin there.

But the poll could be very telling of Bush’s chances in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, where the former governor of Florida’s favorability ratings are in the red.