finds Kentucky Senator Rand Paul coming in second among
Republican voters’ most favored candidates to run for president in
2016. Just over a month ago, Rand Paul came in at 6th place with
just 10 percent among likely Republican voters. Now Paul garners 17
percent of Republican voters, the second most likely candidate to
be mentioned. 
Among Republican voters, 75 percent have a favorable opinion of
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), 62 percent have a favorable view of Sen.
Marco Rubio (R-FL), and 60 percent are favorable toward Sen. Rand
Paul (R-KY).
Interestingly, Chris Christie was the only Republican asked
about who received higher marks from Democrats (42 percent) than
Republicans (39 percent). Christie’s favorability among Democrats
may be a harbinger of the 2016 race. When asked who Republican
voters would like see run for president, 21 percent named Marco
Rubio, but in a close second and third 17 percent named Rand Paul,
15 percent named New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Other
Republican candidates making the list include Paul Ryan (12
percent), Jeb Bush (12 percent), Rick Santorum (5 percent), Bobby
Jindal (4 percent), Rick Perry (2 percent), and Susana Martinez (1
percent).
Among Democratic voters, former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton tops the list of most favorable at 84 percent, followed by
Vice President Joe Biden (73 percent), and Senator Elizabeth Warren
a distant third at 43 percent.
In hypothetical match-ups among likely primary voters, Hillary
Clinton beats each potential Republican candidate. Hillary beats
Chris Christie by 4 points, Rand Paul by 6 points, and Marco Rubio
and Paul Ryan by 7 points. However, Chris Christie beats Joe Biden
by 9 points 49 to 40 percent. Nevertheless, Joe Biden beats the
remaining potential Republican contenders: by 2 points over Marco
Rubio, 3 points over Paul Ryan, and 4 points over Rand Paul.
PPP surveyed
1247 voters included oversamples of Democratic and Republican
primary voters from March 27-30 2013. The margin of error is +/-
2.8% overall, +/-3.8% for Democrats and +/-2.9% for
Republicans.
