--- title: 2016: Jeb Bush Narrowly Leads Tight Republican Presidential Race description: Former Florida governor Jeb Bush is enjoying a slight lead over his likely Republican rivals for President, according to a new poll canonical: https://time.com/3828045/jeb-bush-2016-republican-presidential-race-poll/ author: Noah Rayman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-20T12:56:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-15T03:59:17.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jeb Bush Narrowly Leads Tight Republican Presidential Race, Poll Says og:description: But no one has broken out of the GOP pack og:url: https://time.com/3828045/jeb-bush-2016-republican-presidential-race-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt203d1bd1c67f38fa/6987ebd72dce017cc49e1634/jeb-bush-new-hampshire-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Former Florida Governor Bush at MaryAnne's Diner in Derry, N.H. on April 17, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jeb Bush Narrowly Leads Tight Republican Presidential Race, Poll Says twitter:description: But no one has broken out of the GOP pack twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt203d1bd1c67f38fa/6987ebd72dce017cc49e1634/jeb-bush-new-hampshire-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jeb Bush Narrowly Leads Tight Republican Presidential Race, Poll Says > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Hillary Clinton's Top 10 Political Moments [Watch (HLS stream): Hillary Clinton's Top 10 Political Moments](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/L3I0gpwt.m3u8) (1:49)  _Published 2015-04-09. Watch the top 10 moments from Hillary Clinton's career in politics._  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Updated: Dec 15, 2023 3:59 AM UTCPublished: Apr 20, 2015 12:56 PM UTC  Former Florida Governor Bush at MaryAnne's Diner in Derry, N.H. on April 17, 2015. Former Florida Governor Bush at MaryAnne's Diner in Derry, N.H. on April 17, 2015.Brooks Kraft—Corbis for TIME  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Updated: Dec 15, 2023 3:59 AM UTCPublished: Apr 20, 2015 12:56 PM UTC Former Florida governor Jeb Bush is enjoying a slight lead over his likely Republican rivals for President, [according to a new poll](http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/20/politics/2016-elections-republican-field-poll/index.html), but the nominating contest remains tight with no overwhelming front runner. The news came as Bush [announced](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/20/us-usa-election-bush-idUSKBN0NB21Z20150420) he would travel to Germany, Poland and Estonia early next month, giving him a chance to burnish his foreign policy credentials as he prepares to formally launch his bid for the presidency. The CNN/ORC survey found that 17% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents support Bush in the primary race, while 12% back Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who both recently launched their 2016 campaigns, each drew 11%. Only 4% said they back New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who placed second in the poll as recently as last fall. Bush also leads the field in several key attributes, according to the poll, including the candidate voters see as having the right experience and the best chance to defeat the Democratic nominee. In contrast to the Republican race, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who formally announced her candidacy this month, dominates the Democratic lineup. Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, 69% said they support Clinton, while 11% said they backed Vice President Joe Biden — who hasn’t signaled he’s running — 5% support Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and 3% backed former Virginia Senator Jim Webb. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3828045/jeb-bush-2016-republican-presidential-race-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3828045/jeb-bush-2016-republican-presidential-race-poll/"},"headline":"Jeb Bush Narrowly Leads Tight Republican Presidential Race, Poll Says","datePublished":"2015-04-20T12:56:34.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-15T03:59:17.000Z","description":"But no one has broken out of the GOP pack","url":"https://time.com/3828045/jeb-bush-2016-republican-presidential-race-poll/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","Poll","jeb bush","2016 elections"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt203d1bd1c67f38fa/6987ebd72dce017cc49e1634/jeb-bush-new-hampshire-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt203d1bd1c67f38fa/6987ebd72dce017cc49e1634/jeb-bush-new-hampshire-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Former Florida Governor Bush at MaryAnne's Diner in Derry, N.H. on April 17, 2015.","caption":"Former Florida Governor Bush at MaryAnne's Diner in Derry, N.H. on April 17, 2015.","creditText":"Brooks Kraft—Corbis for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3828045/jeb-bush-2016-republican-presidential-race-poll/","name":"Jeb Bush Narrowly Leads Tight Republican Presidential Race, Poll Says"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Hillary Clinton's Top 10 Political Moments","description":"Watch the top 10 moments from Hillary Clinton's career in politics.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/L3I0gpwt/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-04-09T19:18:36.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/L3I0gpwt.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3828045/jeb-bush-2016-republican-presidential-race-poll/","duration":"PT1M49S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3828045/jeb-bush-2016-republican-presidential-race-poll/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```