Romney tops 2016 GOP candidates in new poll

Mitt Romney polls two points ahead of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in Zogby’s latest poll on the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.

Romney, the 2012 GOP standard-bearer who some believe would be the party’s best candidate in 2016, gets 14 percent in the new poll released late Wednesday.

{mosads}That’s two points better than Bush, a favorite of the GOP establishment who announced this month that he is exploring a possible campaign.

Narrowly trailing those two is Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) at 10 percent; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 8 percent; and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) at 7 percent.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker gets 5 percent, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Texas Gov. Rick Perry are favored by 4 percent and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) wins support from 3 percent, as does Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.  

Nineteen percent list “other” or “not sure” when they are polled, highlighting the wide-open nature of the GOP race.

The poll also suggests all of the Republicans would trail Hillary Clinton is she chooses to run for the White House.

It found Clinton leading all of the top tier GOP candidates by wide margins. She wins 49 percent support compared to 34 percent for Bush; 51 percent compared to 33 percent for Paul; 48 percent compared to 33 percent for Christie and 50 percent compared to 35 percent for Romney.

The Zogby poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus six points.