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

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.

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Such biases toward the experience of governors falls in line with history — about twice as many governors as senators have won their party's primary election.

"Of course, having the right kind of experience isn't the be-all, end-all," says Blake. "And when people get to know the likes of Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz, perhaps they'll be more convinced that they have the right tools to be president."

President Obama, of course, stands out as the most recent example of experience not being the be-all, end-all for a successful presidential run. He had been in the Senate barely two years when he announced his White House bid.