Three-quarters of Republicans said they could envision themselves supporting Floridians Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio, according to a new poll, the broadest appeal of any of the Republicans seeking their party’s nomination for president.
About 75% of Republicans said they could vote for Bush, the former Florida governor, and 74% said the same of Rubio, according to a poll by NBC and the Wall Street Journal released Sunday.
Other potential Republican favorites include former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee — who 65% said they could see themselves supporting — and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — who 57% said they could support. But Walker remains an unknown quantity to many GOP voters, according to the poll, with 21% saying they do not know his name.
And two Republican hopefuls appear to be out of favor with many of the voters they are courting: A majority of Republican voters — 55% — say they could not support New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and two-thirds of those polled say the same about businessman Donald Trump, who declared his candidacy this week.
The news organizations surveyed 236 GOP primary voters, according to The Wall Street Journal, with a margin of error of 6.4 percentage points. NBC said the full results of the poll will be released Monday evening.
