Most voters — Republicans included — say the GOP should choose a fresh face to run for president in 2016, while a significant number are leery of political dynasty families, according to a poll released Tuesday.
A Rasmussen Reports survey found that 64 percent of likely voters want the GOP to start fresh in 2016, while just 10 percent say Republicans should nominate a candidate who has run in the past. Another 25 percent were not sure.
Those advocating for a fresh GOP candidate included 60 percent of Republicans, 65 percent of Democrats and 68 percent of unaffiliated voters.
At the same time, 42 percent of Republicans surveyed said 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney should run for president again in 2016, while 33 percent disagreed and 26 percent were undecided.
Just 33 percent of Republicans surveyed said that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush should run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016.
Mr. Bush’s family ties may be weighing him down. Nearly half — 49 percent — of all voters polled said the fact that his father and brother have both served as president made them less likely to vote for him, while 13 percent said they were more likely to vote for him and 37 percent said his family had no impact on their vote.
Given that a candidate named Bush or Clinton has run for president in every year but one since 1988, 41 percent of voters were at least somewhat worried that the country is “developing an unofficial group of royal families with too much influence over government and politics,” the poll found.
That figure is up slightly from 37 percent earlier this year, but lower than the high of 47 percent in 2008, when former first lady Hillary Clinton was seeking the Democratic nomination for president and Republican George W. Bush was stepping down after two terms as president.
The survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted Dec. 28 with a +/- 3 percent margin of sampling error.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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