McClatchy-Marist poll shows Romney, Jeb Bush leading GOP pack

A new poll shows former presidential candidate Mitt Romney leading the field of likely 2016 Republican candidates.

The McClatchy-Marist poll, released Monday, shows Romney has the support from about 19 percent of Republican voters, with Jeb Bush receiving 14 percent.


The former governors were followed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Gov. Mike Huckabee, both with 9 percent. Ben Carson received 8 percent.

If Romney doesn’t enter the 2016 Republican primary, the poll showed Bush with 16 percent, Huckabee with 12 percent, Christie with 10 percent and Carson with 8 percent.

( Also on POLITICO: Carolina on Jeb's mind)

On the Democratic side, 58 percent of those polled said they hope the party will nominate a candidate who will break from President Barack Obama’s policies. That’s an increase of 10 percentage points over last year.

As expected, Hillary Clinton leads over any other potential Democratic challenger by large margins, the poll finds.

The survey of 1,140 adults was conducted via landline phones and cellphones Dec. 3-9. Respondents were selected by asking each household for the youngest man. The margin of error is plus or minus 5.2 percentage points for Republicans and plus or minus 4.7 percent for Democrats.