TRENTON — The 2016 GOP presidential nomination remains wide-open contest, but Gov. Chris Christie has jumped to the top of the list among a list of possible Republican contenders for the White House, according to a new poll.

Christie has a percentage point lead among a pack of fellow GOP candidates who could be in the hunt for their party's nomination in a new CNN poll, and his ratings jumped five percentage points from the group's June poll. Taking into account the poll's three percentage point margin of error, Christie is among five Republicans lumped together as most popular.

Thirteen percent of GOP and independents who lean Republican said they would likely back Christie in 2016.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee each received 12 percent, while Gov. Rick Perry of Texas and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin each garnered 11 percent of support.

Perry also jumped five percentage points since CNN’s last poll.

According to the survey, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas are at 8 percent; U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida at 6 percent; Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin is at 5 percent; and former U.S> Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania received 3 percent.

The same poll also found former Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney would have defeated President Barack Obama if a rematch of the 2012 race were held today.

However, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would beat Romney by double digits if he decides to mount a third presidential run.

The poll was conducted by phone between July 18-20 and polled 1,012 adults. It has a margin of sampling error is plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.

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