This renders every other poll conducted to date pretty much meaningless, no? Indeed, after a short lull in polling data, a new Quinnipiac University surveys finds that five Republican presidential hopefuls are technically in first place right now, garnering 10 percent of the total vote each. They are, in no particular order, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, and Ben Carson.
Wow:
A few other notable tidbits: Ted Cruz, for his part, only took home six percent of the total vote, putting him comfortably in the middle of the pack. But with a whopping 17 percent of Tea Party support, he shows great promise and potential as a presidential candidate if he can slowly begin winning over centrist/moderate voters. Mike Huckabee, meanwhile, appears to be the hands down favorite among evangelicals and social conservatives. Indeed, he came in strongly with 17 percent of that vote, suggesting that Rick Santorum has an enormous mountain to climb if he hopes to win Iowa again. Finally, Marco Rubio, as many polls have already shown, appears to be the candidate who can best win over Tea Party and establishment support. Put simply, he won over 12 percent of Tea Partiers -- and 13 percent of moderate/liberal Republicans (with leaners). Besides Scott Walker, no one in the field seems to have the kind of double-digit, spectrum-wide appeal.
And while the only female candidate in the race, Carly Fiorina, is struggling to make a dent in the polls, the good news is that if the first Republican debate were held today, she would satisfy all criteria and therefore be invited to participate:
Rounding out the top 10 for televised debates are U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky at 7 percent, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas at 6 percent, Donald Trump at 5 percent, New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie at 4 percent and Carly Fiorina and Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 2 percent each.
I’ll leave you with this:
Not even close.
UPDATE: I should also add that no Republican candidate does better (head-to-head) against Hillary Clinton than Rand Paul. He trails her by four percentage points (46/42).