• Politics

Americans Think Bush, Clinton Seem Presidential in Poll

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US Vice President Joe Biden (L) talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as US President Barack Obama hosts a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on December 7, 2009.
US Vice President Joe Biden (L) talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as US President Barack Obama hosts a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on December 7, 2009.JEWEL SAMAD—AFP/Getty Images
By Daniel White

Having the same last name as a recent president apparently helps Americans picture you as president as well.

A Bloomberg Politics poll released Wednesday showed that many Americans could most readily envision Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Jeb Bush in the White House, while they were least able to see Donald Trump as commander-in-chief.

The poll took a different tack than the usual surveys of favorability or support, simply asking Americans whether they have “a realistic vision of that person being president of the United States.”

Clinton came in tops with 47% saying yes and 52% saying no; followed by Bush, with 40% saying yes and 57% saying no.

By comparison, about a third could picture Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina in the White House, and only 29% could envision a President Donald Trump.

The poll was conducted on 1,001 U.S. adults from Sept. 18-21 by the Iowa-based Selzer & Co. for Bloomberg Politics. There is a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent.

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