Clinton bests Chris Christie 45 percent to 37 percent in the new poll. | AP Photos Who's got the edge for 2016?

Hillary Clinton tops any of several top-tier possible Republican 2016 candidates — including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — according to a presidential poll on Thursday.

Clinton bests Christie 45 percent to 37 percent, according to the Quinnipiac poll, and she trumps Sen. Marco Rubio 50 percent to 34 percent and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), 50 percent to 38 percent.


“Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would start a 2016 presidential campaign with enormous advantages,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, in a statement. “She obviously is by far the best known and her more than 20 years in the public spotlight allows her to create a very favorable impression on the American people. But it is worth noting that she had very good poll numbers in 2006 looking toward the 2008 election before she faced a relative unknown in Barack Obama.”

( PHOTOS: Who’s talking about Hillary, 2016?)

While Clinton comes out a winner, other possible Democratic contenders did not fare as well. Christie would beat Vice President Joe Biden 43 percent to 40 percent. But Biden would beat Rubio 45 percent to 38 percent. Biden also edges out Ryan 45 percent to 42 percent.

As for Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, he’s tied with Rubio at 42 percent. And Ryan would beat Cuomo 42 percent to 37 percent.

Brown’s take for the Republicans: you might to want to take another look at Christie.

“Although some Republicans don’t think New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie is conservative enough for their taste, he runs best of the three Republicans tested and would defeat two of the top Democrats,” Brown said. “He obviously is doing better than the Democrats’ rising star, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, despite other indications of anti-Republican sentiment.”

The politicians mentioned were the only ones polled.

Quinnipiac telephone-surveyed 1,944 registered voters from Feb. 27 to March 4, and the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.