Gallup: Hillary Clinton easily tops all potential 2016 presidential rivals

Hillary Clinton hints, again, that she&#039;s running for president

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

If it seems like Democrats don't have a Plan B in case Hillary Clinton doesn't run for president in 2016 (or implodes politically before the nomination), Gallup suggests a reason why:

The only one of the 11 Republican and four other Democratic presidential candidates with a similarly positive net favorability rating is Ben Carson, a pediatric neurosurgeon whose name is recognizable to only 28 percent of respondents. Clinton, approved by 50 percent and disapproved by 39 percent, had the highest recognition numbers — 89 percent — of all the candidates.

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Gallup's poll, released Thursday, was conducted March 2-4 — "just as revelations about the private email account Clinton used to conduct business while secretary of state became a major news story, but before her Tuesday press conference addressing questions about the issue," explains Gallup's Jeffrey M. Jones. It has a sampling error of ±3 percentage points. You can read more about the survey's methodologies, and how each candidate's standing has improved or worsened, here.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.