Public Policy Polling has some new numbers from Washington State that suggest two things: 1) the Republican field is a total wild card; 2) Hillary Clinton is a far more competitive candidate than any of her Democratic rivals, at least at this stage of race.
Here's a glimpse of the first phenomenon:
Clinton leads the GOP hopefuls by anywhere from 10 to 15 points. Ben Carson and Marco Rubio come the closest, each trailing by 10 at 49/39. Jeb Bush and Scott Walker are each down by 11 at 48/37 and 49/38 respectively. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul face 12 point deficits at 50/38. Mike Huckabee and Rick Perry lag by 13 points at 50/37. And Chris Christie does the worst of the Republican field with a 15 point deficit at 49/34.
Ben Carson—this
Ben Carson, and this
Ben Carson—leads the GOP pack! Along with
Marco Rubio. If that's the "deep bench" Republicans have been all abuzz about, bring it!
PPP points out that while Clinton's showing doesn't quite match the 15- to 17-point margins Barack Obama won Washington by in 2008/2012, it far exceeds the 5- to 7-point margins that Al Gore and John Kerry bested their GOP rivals by in 2000 and 2004.
The firm also matched up Scott "Shifty" Walker against Clinton's (potential) Democratic rivals in the deep blue state and found that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders did the best, but he still only tied old Shifty.
Bernie Sanders achieves a tie at 35, and the rest of the Democrats trail him--Jim Webb by 1 point at 33/32, Martin O'Malley by 3 points at 34/31, and Lincoln Chafee by 6 points at 35/29. The weak performances of the alternate Democrats are a byproduct of their being so little known that they get only 54-61% of their own party's vote but nevertheless they show how much more formidable Clinton is than anyone else on her side.