An overwhelming majority of Democrats back Hillary Clinton to run for president in 2016, according to a new poll.
A whopping 82 per cent of Democrats say they want Ms. Clinton to run for President and only 13 per cent do not want to see the former secretary of state run, the New York Times/CBS poll released last night found.
Given a list of candidates to say “run”, “not run”, or no opinion, 53 per cent of Democrats said “yes” to seeing a bid from at least one other, besides Ms. Clinton.
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The potential candidates drawing the most interest after Ms. Clinton are Vice President Joe Biden, former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.
By comparison only 29 per cent of all Democrats picked 66-year-old Ms. Clinton exclusively of the candidates listed, without giving an affirmative to anyone else.
While Democrats appear overwhelmingly eager for a Clinton candidacy, the poll suggested that the Republican field, at least at this early stage, is far more muddled, with no potential candidate garnering majority enthusiasm for a presidential run.
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No major candidates in either party have yet declared their candidacy, but several have taken steps indicating that they are seriously considering a run.
Male and female Democrats expressed similar levels of interest in Ms. Hillary Clinton. A potential Clinton candidacy also drew the strongest support among self-described independents, with 52 per cent saying they hoped she would run.
The nationwide poll is based on telephone interviews conducted with 515 Democrats, 519 Republicans and 550 independents. Each has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus six percentage points.