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Clinton leads all potential U.S. 2016 presidential candidates, for now

Xinhua, March 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to lead all other potential candidates for the 2016 presidential race, despite the controversy over her use of private email account while in office, found a CNN/ORC poll released Wednesday.

None of the top contenders in the Republican field comes within 10 points of Clinton in a series of hypothetical general election matchups, according to the poll.

Clinton maintains a comfortable lead over all other potential Democratic challengers who she could face in a nomination contest next year. She leads incumbent Vice President Joe Biden, her closest competitor within the Democratic camp, by 62 percent to 15 percent.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, the No. 3 possible Democratic contender, garners only 10 percent of support within the party. No other potential Democratic candidate tops 5 percent, found the poll.

In the Republican camp, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush leads the pack of possible presidential candidates with 16 percent of support, followed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker at 13 percent, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul at 12 percent, and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee at 10 percent.

In single digits, former neurosurgeon Ben Carson wins 9 percent, and both New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Florida Senator Marco Rubio gains only 7 percent.

If the presidential race was held today, Clinton would have been a clear winner, according to the poll.

Paul is the top Republican contender who comes closest in the hypothetical general election matchup by gaining 43 percent of votes, which is still far behind the 54 percent for Clinton.

The two top Republican candidates, Bush and Walker, both win 40 percent of support, against Clinton's 55 percent. Huckabee gets 41 percent to Clinton's 55 percent, and Carson has 40 percent to Clinton's 56 percent, found the poll.

Rubio trails Clinton by 42 percent to 55 percent, while Christie by 40 percent to 55 percent.

Though Clinton's favorability rating has taken a hit recently due to the controversy over her use of a personal email account and a private server while serving as the secretary of state, her prospects in the 2016 race appear largely unchanged compared to polls conducted before the news broke out.

The CNN/ORC poll was conducted by telephone on March 13-15 and included interviews with 1,009 adult Americans. The results have an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Endite