GOP primary poll reveals Rand Paul and Ted Cruz's big weakness

(Image credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

published 20 April 2015

They're senators. And voters prefer the experience of governors when it comes to the country's highest elected office, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research RC poll released Monday.

In one of the poll's questions assessing voters' feelings toward the potential 14 candidates in the GOP primary, the five would-be candidates who garner the most support are a mixed bag of current or former governors (Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee) and senators (Rand Paul and Marco Rubio).

However, another, more revealing question, asking who has the right presidential experience, gave governors the clear advantage. Bush is by far the leading candidate with experience, earning 27 percent. And as Aaron Blake at The Washington Post points out, while there were a few more governors listed in the poll, they earned an overwhelming majority (65 percent) compared to senators (22 percent) on the experience question.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Lauren Hansen produces The Weekâ€™s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox