This is exactly why I think Hillary Clinton should be the Democratic nominee for president in 2016. The most important thing is to keep an extremist GOP candidate out of the White House (and they are all extremists -- even those touted by the media as being "moderates", like Bush and Romney).
Hillary currently leads all the leading GOP candidates by double-digits -- and that's before those Republicans start beating up on each other in the primaries. This is the kind of margin that could easily be called a "blowout", and could approach "mandate" status (especially if a bunch of Democrats could be sent to Congress on her coattails).
This is from a new ABC News / Washington Post Poll. It was conducted between January 12th and 15th of a random national sample of 1,003 adults, and has a margin of error of 3.5 points.
Here are some of the reasons they give for Hillary's large margin:
The poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, finds several reasons that Clinton leads all five potential GOP candidates tested:
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She’s stronger in her base, backed by nine in 10 or more Democrats who are registered to
vote, as well as by at least eight in 10 liberals and about six in 10 moderates.
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As with Barack Obama, the recovery helps Clinton. About three-quarters of registered
voters who rate the economy positively support her, and she leads overwhelmingly
among those who say they’ve gained ground financially under Obama’s presidency. But
she also leads, by 16 to 20 points, among those whose finances have just held steady
.
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Clinton has a strong advantage among those who see income inequality as a major
problem, and she runs essentially evenly vs. these potential Republican nominees among
those who think it’s a problem, but not a major one. She trails only among those who
don’t think the income gap is a problem – just 16 percent of registered voters.
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Women favor Clinton by 20- to 24-point margins, men by non-significant 2- to 7-point
margins. She’s also strong among racial and ethnic minorities, adults under 40 and lower-
income voters.