No fewer than five contenders are atop the crowded Republican presidential pack, according to a Quinnipiac University poll out Thursday.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee each get 10 percent support among Republican voters. Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton leads every Republican she’s tested against by 4 to 18 percentage points in hypothetical head-to-head contests.
Rounding out the top 10 are Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul with 7 percent, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with 6 percent, real estate developer Donald Trump with 5 percent, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie with 4 percent, and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and Ohio Gov. John Kasich tied at 2 percent.
To secure a place on the stage at the first primary debate in August, hosted by Fox News, candidates will need to place in the top 10 in an average of the five latest national polls, the network says.
Out of the top 10 in the Quinnipiac poll are South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, former New York Gov. George Pataki, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
Paul and Rubio each trail Clinton in head-to-heads by 4 percentage points. She leads Huckabee by 7 points, Walker by 8 points, Christie by 9 points, Bush by 10 points, Cruz by 11 points and Trump by 18 points.
Among Democrats, Clinton has a wide lead with 57 percent. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders came in a distant second with 15 percent. Vice President Joe Biden took 9 percent. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley was tied with former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee and former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb at 1 percent.
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