Early Presidential Preference

I know it's still way too early, but I find this sort of thing to be quite interesting. This is the latest survey done by Public Policy Polling on the presidential candidates preferred by members of both political parties. The poll was done between July 19th and 21st of 500 republican and 418 Democratic voters nationwide -- and has a margin of error of 4.3 points for the Republican poll and 4.7 points for the Democratic poll.

The Democratic side is pretty much the same as it has been. Hillary Clinton has a very large lead (52%), with Biden in second place (12%). Everyone else ranges between 2% and 6%. Unless something remarkable happens, Clinton is a shoo-in if she decides to run.

The Republican side is much more interesting, and has shown some movement already. Back in April, Marco Rubio had a lead with 21% in this poll. He is now down to 10%, and is in sixth place. The new leader is Rand Paul with 16%, followed closely by Ryan, Bush, and Christie tied at 13% -- and Cruz, who has climbed to 12%. I think there'll be a lot more movement in this poll before the race really starts.

But for me, the best thing of all is that Rick Perry is not even polling well enough to be listed in the survey. Maybe people are starting to figure out what a mess he has made in Texas.