A recent survey, the SUPRC / Boston Herald Poll, showed what a mess the GOP has in trying to find a suitable candidate to run for president in 2016. The survey was done between June 14th and 18th of 419 New Hampshire Republican likely voters.
The top chart shows the results when all the current likely candidates were included. It's no surprise that it showed what polls in other states have shown -- that none of the current hopefuls has a lead that could be considered significant. Christie and Paul lead the pack in New Hampshire, but they get only about 11% each (far from a percentage that would carry bragging rights).
But then this survey did an interesting thing. They added Mitt Romney to the list and polled the respondents again -- and Romney got about a quarter of all the vote (24.2%). Now this doesn't mean Romney is the leader for the 2016 nomination. There's no way the GOP would nominate him again in 2016 (and if they tried, the teabagger states would revolt). But it does show that none of the current hopefuls has been able to excite the party's base.
The GOP nomination for 2016 is still wide open -- and there is room (and time) for a dark horse to get in the race and win.
