A new Gravis Marketing poll suggests at least two GOP presidential candidates could defeat Hillary Clinton in Iowa during the 2016 general election — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. The poll also reveals how the GOP candidates are stacking up against one another — and individually against Clinton.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) are the only two Republican candidates that Iowa voters say they would vote for over Clinton in the general election, if she were the Democratic nominee and the vote were held now. When comparing the GOP candidates against each other ahead of February’s caucus, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is the Hawkeye state’s favorite.
Because the poll’s margin of error is plus or minus three percent, as for the Hillary Clinton question, it could be called a virtual tie – Bush, Huckabee, Walker, Paul, Rubio and Fiorina all come within the margin of error – but only Paul and Huckabee lead Clinton by at least one percent.
The GOP candidates who fell well below the margin of error when put up against Clinton were: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Dr. Ben Carson and Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ).
When asked, “If the election for President were held today and the candidates were Republican Rand Paul and Democrat Hillary Clinton, Who would you vote for?”
44 percent of those polled said Paul, 43 percent said Clinton and 13 percent were undecided.
Those surveyed were also asked the same question comparing Huckabee to Clinton.
45 percent said they would vote for Huckabee, 44 percent said they would vote for Clinton and 11 percent said they were undecided.
Although Huckabee and Paul appear to fare the best when matched against Clinton, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was still the primary favorite in the Hawkeye state’s GOP caucus.
The poll asked: “If the Iowa Republican caucuses for President were held today and the candidates were Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina, Chris Christie, Scott Walker, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, and Jeb Bush, Who would you vote for?”
The results were as follows:
– Gov. Scott Walker at 17 percent
– Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) at 13 percent
– Dr. Ben Carson at 12 percent
– Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 10 percent
– Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 8 percent
– Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) at 6 percent
– Carly Fiorina at 5 percent
– Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) were both at 4 percent
Gravis Marketing is a nonpartisan research firm and questioned 1,156 registered Iowan voters. Of those, 364 identified themselves as Republicans, 434 as Democrats and the others said they considered themselves independents.
The poll was conducted May 28th and 29th with a margin of error of plus or minus three percent.
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