Poll finds GOP field gaining on Walker
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker leads the field of Republican presidential hopefuls, but a pack of GOP contenders are gaining on the front-runner in the latest survey from the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling.
The poll released Wednesday found Walker in the lead for the GOP 2016 nomination with 18 percent support, followed by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) at 13 percent, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Ben Carson at 12 percent each, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 11 percent, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at 10 percent and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) at 9 percent.
Walker’s support has fallen in each of the last two PPP surveys. In the same poll from February, Walker took 25 percent support and held a lead of 7 percentage points over the next closest candidate. In March, Walker stood at 20 percent support.
{mosads}Rubio and Huckabee have seen the biggest gains over that period.
Rubio has picked up 7 percentage points and climbed into second place. He stood at only 6 percent support in the PPP survey from late March. The Florida senator is most frequently named as the second choice among those surveyed.
Huckabee was also at 6 percent support in the last PPP poll, and has gained 6 percentage points in the last month and a half.
Rubio and Huckabee are tied for the best favorability rating in the field. Fifty-eight percent have a positive view of Huckabee, against 24 percent negative. Rubio is also above water on favorability by 34 points, with a 56-22 split.
Bush has fallen from second place in the last PPP survey, when he took 17 percent support, to fifth place presently, with just 11 percent support. Bush is the preferred choice among self-described moderate voters, but he struggles mightily with those who identify as “very conservative.”
And the shine has come off Cruz’s candidacy since he leaped into the top tier on the strength of his presidential launch in March. The Texas senator had moved into third place with 16 percent support in the previous PPP survey, but has fallen back to sixth place at 10 percent support in the latest.
Rounding out the field are New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, at 5 percent support, and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, at 2 percent.
The PPP survey of 685 Republican primary voters was conducted between May 7 and May 10 and has a 3.7 percentage point margin of error.
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