

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, right, arrive at a campaign event for Walker at the Republican field office in Hudson, Wis., Monday, Sept. 29, 2014. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt)

The 2016 presidential election begins in earnest in about 24 hours. And for Republicans, it starts amid a jumble of potential and likely candidates which -- early projections aside -- could go in any number of different directions.

One early problem the GOP has, though: Its top hopefuls aren't seen as being very, well, presidential.

According to new data from the Washington Post and ABC News polling, about twice as many people say Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Rand Paul would not make good presidents as say that they would. For Rick Perry, the ratio is nearly three-to-one.

Three of them -- Bush, Christie and Perry -- begin with about half of registered voters seeing them as not presidential timbre, and Paul isn't far behind at 44 percent.

By comparison, 51 percent say Hillary Clinton (D) would make a good president, while 41 percent say that she wouldn't.

Of course, this is somewhat to be expected. Senators, governors and other politicians aren't generally seen as being presidential until they have served in the office or been at the highest levels of federal government.

Clinton has been in several top roles, including first lady, leading presidential candidate and secretary of state. With those positions come the experience and authority that makes it easier for people to see you as commander in chief.

So we'll grant for a second that, while all four Republicans above have well-demonstrated political brands, none of them have been Cabinet secretaries or even run formidable campaigns for president (Perry, of course, notwithstanding).

What's most remarkable about these data, though, is that it's not just Democrats and independents who aren't sold on the GOP candidates. It's the GOP base itself.

Among all four Republicans, more conservatives say they would not make a good president than say that they would. The gap is at a minimum seven points for Perry (30 would/37 would not) and 12 points for Christie (30/42).

When you look at Republicans more broadly, Bush is the only one in clearly positive territory, at 46/30. With Paul and Christie, more Republicans see them as not making for good presidents than see them as good fits (albeit within the margin for error).

By contrast, Democrats say Clinton would make a good president by a clear 77-17 margin.

These numbers -- especially for the GOP -- will change as the 2016 campaign gets off the ground and as the candidates introduce themselves on the presidential stage. But for a party that has been known to eat its own from time to time, it's pretty clear that much of the party's knee-jerk reaction on some of its top 2016 hopefuls is that they aren't up to the task.

Thus begins the long process of those candidates trying to change that.