A recent Quinnipiac poll of 667 likely Republican voters asked respondents which candidate they would support if the “caucus were being held today.” Jeb Bush received only five percent of support, which put him in seventh place behind Walker, Paul, Rubio, Cruz, Huckabee, and Carson. The full results were as follows:
- Scott Walker: 21%
- Rand Paul: 13%
- Marco Rubio: 13%
- Ted Cruz: 12%
- Mike Huckabee: 11%
- Ben Carson: 7%
- Don’t know: 6%
- Jeb Bush: 5%
- Chris Christie: 3%
- Rick Perry: 3%
- Carly Fiorina: 2%
- John Kasich: 2%
- Rick Santorum: 2%
- Bobby Jindal: 1%
- Lindsey Graham: —
The poll also asked respondents if there were any candidates that they “would definitely not support for the Republican nomination for president? The responses were as follows:
- No one: 35%
- Bush: 25%
- Christie: 20%
- Paul: 10%
- Don’t know: 10%
- Huckabee: 9%
- Graham: 8%
- Santorum: 8%
- Cruz: 7%
- Perry: 7%
- Fiorina: 5%
- Rubio: 5%
- Carson: 4%
- Kasich: 4%
- Jindal: 3%
- Walker: 3%
The bad news for Bush continues in the favorability ratings, as he received 39 percent favorable and 45 percent unfavorable. Bush’s numbers, while not quite as bad, are on par with Chris Christie, who has been consistently turning in negative favorability numbers. Christie received 32 percent favorable and 56 percent unfavorable.
The poll also showed that Rubio continues to receive high favorability ratings: 69 percent favorable versus only 9 percent unfavorable. Rubio’s high favorability, coupled with his increasing base of support and relatively small amount of voters opposed to him, would seem to indicate that he is on track to have a good showing at the caucuses. However, things can change drastically in the nine months before Iowa, so it is still too early to place too much emphasis on these early polls.
Joshua Pinho works for American Principles in Action.
