Paul Ryan Polls As Early Wisconsin Favorite For 2016 GOP Nomination

The next presidential election is three and a half years away, but a Wisconsin poll has already looked at some hypothetical match-ups.

The survey indicates some potential Wisconsin candidates may not carry the Badger State.

Marquette University pollster Charles Franklin would like you to know something very important about a 2013 poll that looks at the 2016 presidential election.

“It’d be absolutely crazy to believe that our results today have much in the way of prediction of where the race will stand as we get into the fall of 2015. Even the candidates that may be in the race is still quite speculative.”

Still, with Wisconsin Republicans Paul Ryan (R-Wisc) and Scott Walker refusing to rule themselves out of a 2016 presidential bid, Franklin says it’s good to get some early data about where things stand.

He says on the Republican side, Ryan leads the hypothetical GOP presidential pack among Republican Wisconsin voters with 27 percent. Florida Senator Marco Rubio is at 21 percent. Governor Walker is at 16 and New Jersey governor Chris Christie is at 11 percent.

Professor Franklin says among Democratic voters, former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is at 62 percent, while Vice President Joe Biden is at 13 percent.

“Here, we simply have the still-open question of whether Clinton will in fact get in the race and whether this level of support holds up over time.”

Franklin says the Marquette poll conducted last week also asked about potential contests between Hillary Clinton and the Republicans. The polls say Clinton leads Ryan 48 to 44 percent, is ahead of Christie 46 to 40, and leads walker 50 to 42.

Clinton tops Rubio 51 to 35, though many in the GOP think Rubio would do better in larger and more diverse states. The Marquette poll’s margin of error is about 5 and a half percent.