Hillary trouncing potential GOP contenders

No Republican presidential contender is within 5 percentage points of Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, according to a poll released Monday by Bloomberg.

{mosads}Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush trails Clinton by 6 percentage points in a head-to-head matchup, as do Gov. Chris Christie (N.J.) and 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney (Mass.). Clinton has an 8-point lead on Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), and a 13-point advantage on Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) in the poll.

Clinton is boosted in the poll by a deep well of public respect for her resume.

An overwhelming majority, 78 percent, say it’s an advantage that Clinton has lived in Washington and worked in the federal government, while 77 percent say it’s an advantage that she served as secretary of State.

In addition, 67 percent said they viewed it as an advantage that she’s married to former President Bill Clinton; 60 percent said it’s good that she’s run for president before; 59 percent say it’s a positive that she served in the Obama administration; and 52 percent admire her close ties to Wall Street.

These figures contribute to giving Clinton the best favorability rating in the field by far.

Fifty-two percent said they have a positive view of Clinton, against 42 percent negative.

Of the potential Republican candidates, only Paul and Christie have positive favorability ratings, coming in at 32 percent-29 percent and 36 percent-35 percent, respectively.

Romney is underwater at 43 percent positive and 44 percent negative, Cruz comes in with a 26 percent-29 percent split, and Bush at 32 percent-37 percent.

The Bloomberg Politics Poll of 1,001 adults was conducted Dec. 3-5 and has a 3.1-percentage-point margin of error.