Gallup: Hillary Clinton easily tops all potential 2016 presidential rivals

Hillary Clinton hints, again, that she'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:

(Gallup)

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 Weber

Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.