As the midterm elections wind down and the 2016 presidential campaign gets underway, polling analysis by Aaron Blake at the Washington Post finds that voters are unimpressed with the GOP bench:
According to new data from the Washington Post and ABC News polling, about twice as many people say Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Rand Paul would not make good presidents as say that they would. For Rick Perry, the ratio is nearly three-to-one.
Three of them — Bush, Christie and Perry — begin with about half of registered voters seeing them as not presidential timbre, and Paul isn’t far behind at 44 percent.
By comparison, 51 percent say Hillary Clinton (D) would make a good president, while 41 percent say that she wouldn’t…
What’s most remarkable about these data, though, is that it’s not just Democrats and independents who aren’t sold on the GOP candidates. It’s the GOP base itself.
Among all four Republicans, more conservatives say they would not make a good president than say that they would. The gap is at a minimum seven points for Perry (30 would/37 would not) and 12 points for Christie (30/42).
When you look at Republicans more broadly, Bush is the only one in clearly positive territory, at 46/30. With Paul and Christie, more Republicans see them as not making for good presidents than see them as good fits (albeit within the margin for error).
By contrast, Democrats say Clinton would make a good president by a clear 77-17 margin.
