Poll: Paul slides among GOP primary voters

Support for Sen. Rand Paul slipped in a new poll of likely Republican primary voters, with only 49 percent saying they could see themselves voting for the first-term Kentucky senator for president, compared with 59 percent in the same survey two months earlier.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush led the poll, conducted for The Wall Street Journal and NBC News, with 75 percent of likely voters saying they could see themselves supporting him. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was just behind, with 74 percent support, followed by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (65 percent), Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (57 percent) and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (53 percent). Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (51 percent), retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson (50 percent), Paul, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (49 percent) and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (36 percent) rounded out the top 10.

The WSJ/NBC poll, released on Sunday’s episode of “Meet the Press,” showed double-digit gains for Bush, Rubio, Huckabee, Cruz and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina (31 percent) compared with where they stood earlier in the spring. “Obviously, something’s going on there,” Karl Rove, the GOP strategist and Wall Street Journal columnist, said on “Fox News Sunday.”

The poll of 236 likely GOP voters, conducted June 14-18, had a margin of error of plus or minus 6.4 percentage points. The two news organizations will release horserace numbers for the primary field on Monday.