The information discussed in this post is from the recent Monmouth University Poll (conducted between June 25th and 30th of 850 registered voters nationwide -- with a margin of error of 3.4 points).This poll is about a month old, but I doubt that much has changed in the last month. It shows that Hillary Clinton is still the favorite in the public at large -- with 52% of the general public giving her a positive approval rating. Most Republicans are far behind -- at least double digits separating their approval rating from that of Clinton.
However, there is one Republican who at least comes close to Clinton in public approval. It is New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who logs a 49% approval rating -- only 3 points behind Clinton (and within the poll's margin of error). That's a strong showing for a Republican, considering the damage congressional Republicans have done to their party's brand.
But while Christie is pretty popular with the general public, he lags far behind other Republicans in the approval of GOP registered voters. GOP voters give Jeb Bush and Paul Ryan a 76% approval rating, and Marco Rubio a 64% approval rating. But Christie finishes only 5th with GOP voters, even trailing Sarah Palin by two points.
While Christie might do OK in the Northeast Republican primaries (and possibly on the West Coast), it is doubtful he could carry states in the other parts of the country -- like the South, the Midwest, and non-coastal Western states. These areas are controlled by the teabagger Republicans, and they don't like Christie at all. They would support nearly any other Republican over Christie -- and since those are the strongest GOP areas of the country, it is very doubtful that Christie could win the GOP nomination.
Christie's strength among the general public was verified when the poll asked about specific candidate math-ups. The strongest math-ups for the GOP against Clinton were from Christie, Bush, Rubio, and Cruz. But note (in the charts below) that only Christie comes close to Clinton, while the others trail by at least double-digits.
The Republicans actually have a viable candidate for the 2016 election -- a candidate who could at least come close to beating Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately for the GOP, it is the one candidate that most of their base voters don't want.
