Walker leads nationally in new poll

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker leads a tight field of candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, according to a new survey from Public Policy Polling.

Walker is alone in first place in the poll with 17 percent, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 15 percent, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) at 13 percent, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 12 percent and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 11 percent.

That’s a big jump for Bush, who was at 11 percent support in the same poll last month.

However, Bush will begin his quest for the GOP nomination with a negative favorability rating among Republicans, according to the poll. Only 37 percent said they have a positive view of Bush, against 40 percent who have a negative view.

Bush is dragged down by those who identify as “very conservative,” with only 32 percent of those saying they have a positive view of Bush. Bush is the top choice among self-described “moderate” Republican primary voters.

Rubio stands out among the top tier of candidates for having the best favorability rating in the field. Fifty-nine percent of GOP primary voters said they have a positive view of Rubio, compared to only 16 percent who have a negative view.

The rest of the candidates polled in single digits nationally. Sens. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Rand Paul (Ky.) took 8 percent support each in the poll, businesswoman Carly Fiorina took 5 percent, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie won 4 percent support.

Christie has the worst favorability rating in the entire field, with only 26 percent of Republicans saying they have a favorable view of him, compared 49 percent who view him unfavorably.

On the Democratic side, former secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to be the runaway leader.

She takes 65 percent support, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at 9 percent, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley at 5 percent and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb (Va.) with 4 percent support each.

Clinton leads all of the Republicans in head-to-head match-ups, with Rubio and Carson coming the closest, trailing the former secretary of State by three points each.

Clinton leads Walker, Bush and Christie by four, Huckabee by five, Cruz and Fiorina by six, and Paul by seven points.

The PPP survey of 1,129 voters nationwide was conducted between June 11 and June 14 and has a 2.9 percentage point margin of error.