Christie takes 43 percent in the Quinnipiac poll, compared with 42 percent for Clinton. | AP Photos 2016 poll: Christie 43, Clinton 42

A new poll finds former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie virtually tied in a potential 2016 matchup.

Christie takes 43 percent in the Quinnipiac poll, compared with 42 percent for Clinton. Christie’s strength comes in part from his strong showing among independents: He leads among the group by 16 points, 48 percent to 32 percent. He also leads among men and white voters, and comes within 12 points of Clinton among Hispanic voters — far above 2012 GOP candidate Mitt Romney’s performance with that demographic. Clinton’s strength is with women (she leads 48 percent to 39 percent) and among black voters (77 percent to 12 percent).


Clinton has big leads against other possible GOP presidential contenders. She leads both Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) by 9 points, 49 percent to 40 percent, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) by 15 points, 51 percent to 36 percent.

The poll also found that voters are split over which party they’d prefer to vote for in their own congressional district: Democrats and Republicans each take 39 percent. That’s a big change from early last month when Quinnipiac found Democrats leading Republicans by 9 points in the generic ballot test, 43 percent to 34 percent.

Still, voters disapprove of congressional Republicans at higher rates than they do of congressional Democrats: voters disapprove of Republicans more than they approve by a 53 point margin (73 percent to 20 percent), compared with a 32 point margin (62 percent to 30 percent) for Democrats.

The poll surveyed 2,545 registered voters from Nov. 6-11, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percent.