Hillary Clinton could get half of American voters’ support in 2016, poll

Half of American voters say they could see themselves supporting former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton if she runs for president in 2016 and 48 percent oppose her, a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll said.

Despite the near 50/50 split, Mrs. Clinton is in better shape then several possible Republican rivals. Thirty-one percent say they could support former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who announced Tuesday he was actively exploring a bid, compared to 57 percent who say they couldn’t.

A third could support 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and 57 percent say they couldn’t, and 27 percent could support New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, while 53 percent could not.

Providing some hope for the GOP: 71 percent want the next president to take a different approach than President Obama and voters, by a 40 percent to 38 percent margin, want a Republican to win the White House in 2016 over a Democrat.

Among Democrats, 82 percent say they could support Mrs. Clinton, compared to 15 percent who say they couldn’t. That’s a significantly larger margin than the 37 percent support/25 percent oppose split for Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who liberal groups are trying to push into the race, and the 51 percent/41 percent split for Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Among Democrats, 82 percent say they could support Mrs. Clinton, compared to 15 percent who say they couldn’t. That’s a significantly larger margin than the 37 percent support/25 percent oppose split for Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who liberal groups are trying to push into the race, and the 51 percent/41 percent split for Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Also among Democrats, 13 percent could support former Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, compared to 21 percent opposed, 18 percent could support Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vermont Independent, compared to 28 percent opposed, and 7 percent could support Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, compared to 21 percent who could see themselves opposing him.

Among Republicans, the splits are:

• Mitt Romney — 63 percent support/33 percent oppose (+30).

• Jeb Bush — 55 percent support/34 percent oppose (+21).

• Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky — 47 percent support/34 percent oppose (+13).

• Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida — 39 percent support/28 percent oppose (+11).

• Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — 29 percent support/20 percent oppose (+9).

• Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee — 47 percent support/39 percent oppose (+8).

• Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas — 34 percent support/33 percent oppose (+1).

• Chris Christie — 40 percent support/43 percent oppose (-3).

• Texas Gov. Rick Perry — 35 percent support/39 percent oppose (-4).

For all voters:

• Hillary Clinton — 50 percent support/48 percent oppose (+2).

• Jim Webb — 9 percent support/24 percent oppose (-15).

• Rand Paul — 30 percent support/47 percent oppose (-16).

• Martin O’Malley — 4 percent support/21 percent oppose (-17).

• Scott Walker — 15 percent support/32 percent oppose (-17).

• Elizabeth Warren — 22 percent support/40 percent oppose (-18).

• Bernie Sanders — 10 percent support/30 percent oppose (-20).

• Marco Rubio — 20 percent support/43 percent oppose (-23).

• Jeb Bush — 31 percent support/57 percent oppose (-26).

• Chris Christie — 27 percent support/53 percent oppose (-26).

• Mitt Romney — 33 percent support/60 percent oppose (-27).

• Ted Cruz — 17 percent support/44 percent oppose (-27).

• Mike Huckabee — 25 percent support/53 percent oppose (-28).

• Rick Perry — 19 support/52 percent oppose (-33).

• Joseph R. Biden — 29 percent support/64 percent oppose (-35).

The survey of 1,000 adults, including 836 registered voters, was taken from Dec. 10-14. The margin of error among registered voters is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.