Potential Republican primary voters appear most open to supporting Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for president in a new poll that shows overall voters are clamoring for “change” even more than they were in 2008.
Fifty-six percent of Republicans said they could see themselves supporting Mr. Rubio, and 53 percent said the same for Mr. Walker, according to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Twenty-six percent said they could not see themselves supporting Mr. Rubio, and 17 percent said the same of Mr. Walker.
Fifty-two percent said they could see themselves supporting former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, but four in 10 say they could not see themselves supporting him.
Forty-nine percent said they could see supporting former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, with 42 percent saying they could not see themselves supporting Mr. Bush and 40 percent saying the same of Mr. Paul.
Six in 10 voters overall say it’s now more important to look for a person who will bring greater changes to current policies even if he or she is less experienced and tested, compared to 38 percent who place more importance on experience over change. In July of 2008, 55 percent said change was more important.
Also among registered voters, 60 percent said Mr. Bush would represent too much of a return to the past, compared to 27 percent who believe he’ll provide new ideas and vision the country will need in the future.
Fifty-one percent said former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — who an overwhelming 86 percent of Democratic primary voters say they could see supporting — would represent too much of a return to the past, compared to 44 percent who said she would provide new ideas and vision.
As for other potential Republican contenders in 2016, 45 percent of GOP voters said they could support former Texas Gov. Rick Perry while 40 percent said they could not, and 41 percent said they could support retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, while 18 percent said they could not.
Forty percent said they could support Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, while 38 percent said they could not see themselves supporting Mr. Cruz, and 40 percent said the same of Mr. Santorum.
Thirty-six percent said they could support Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and 25 percent said they could not, and 18 percent said they could support former businesswoman Carly Fiorina, while 25 percent said they could not and more than half didn’t know the name.
Majorities of Republican voters said they could not support New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina or businessman Donald Trump, with about three-quarters saying they could not support Mr. Trump.
The overall survey of 1,000 adults was taken from March 1-5 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent. The margin of error for the sample of 229 GOP primary voters was plus or minus 6.48 percent and the margin of error among 262 Democratic primary voters was plus or minus 6.05 percent.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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