Washington: Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a double digit lead over two possible Republican presidential candidates, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, in their home State of Florida, an opinion poll said on Friday.
Clinton, who has kept people and political pundits guessing after she left the State Department as the Secretary of State in February, is widely being speculated as a potential Democratic party presidential candidate in the 2016 elections.
"Clinton, who shows the most strength of any potential 2016 aspirant in Quinnipiac University`s national polls, leads Jeb Bush 51-40 per cent and bests Senator Rubio 52-41 per cent in a poll of Sunshine State registered voters," the Quinnipiac University said in its poll results.
Jeb Bush, the former Governor of Florida, is younger brother of former US President George Bush.
Rubio is the popular Republican Senator from Florida.
Clinton is viewed much more favourably than either man, 62-33 per cent favourable for Clinton, compared to 50-35 per cent favourable for Bush and 41-34 per cent for Rubio, the poll results said.
"We probably won`t know for some time whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton runs for president in 2016, but if she decides to make the race, she begins with a sizable lead in a state that Republicans cannot win the White House without," said Peter A Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
"Florida voters have a very positive view of Clinton and it`s not just Democrats who feel that way," he said.
Clinton is viewed favourably by 26 per cent of Republicans, not bad for a Democrat who`s had her share of battles with the GOP, and gets a 57-35 per cent favourability among the key voting group, independents.
Not surprisingly, she gets 93-5 per cent favourability among Democrats.
She has a 10-point gender gap: 66 per cent of women and 56 per cent of men view her favourably, the polls revealed.
According to the poll, in a head-to-head with Jeb Bush, Clinton would get 10 per cent of Republicans while he would only get four per cent of Democrats.
Independent voters are divided 42 per cent for Clinton and 41 per cent for Bush.
US President Barack Obama remains slightly above water in Florida with a 50-45 per cent job approval rating.
PTI
