Obama would beat Jeb Bush big, says poll
Washington (CNN) - Some Republicans continue to hope Jeb Bush will get off the sidelines this presidential election, but a new poll out Monday indicates that President Obama would soundly defeat the former Florida governor.
According to the new survey from Fox News, Obama outpaces Bush by a 54-34 percent margin in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup. That's a significant uptick for the president from a September poll that indicated that Obama would only beat the younger brother of former President George W. Bush by a spread of eight points.
The release of the poll comes two weeks after Bush was featured on the cover of conservative magazine The National Review along with a story that hailed the former governor as a "can-do conservative reformer." In an interview with the magazine, Bush emphatically closed the door to a run in 2012, though left open the possibility of a White House bid in the future.
But National Review editor Rich Lowry later wrote he thinks this is the most favorable election cycle Bush is likely to face, given he has already been out of the governor's office for five years and is by-and-large removed from the public eye.
"No doubt he will have made many contributions to the cause in the interim, but by then his main credential – his governorship and its accomplishments – will seem like yesterday's news. Right now he has the feel of an elder statesman of the party while his time in office is still fresh," wrote Lowry.
The Fox News poll surveyed 911 registered voters nationwide by telephone between February 7-9. It carries a sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
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I get difficulties to believe this was the Fox News Poll. The man (Jeb Bush) should not even dare to announce his candidacy! It is quite scary and it will be MAKING HISTORTY NO. 2 in the Dems side!
Any Democrat can be a person who has the last name Bush!
Polls are nice.... aren't they?
Obama outpacing Jeb 54 – 34 in the polls is akin to a thoroughbred racing a sickly pony.
A slug racing a hare.
An amoeba duking it out with a lion.
One brain cell on life support trying to outhink Albert Einstein.
Not pretty. Not fair. NOT HAPPENNING!!!!!!!
Obama 2012.
As a Dem. I would have thought J.B. would have been his strongest opponent. Maybe this will send a message to the jokers
that "probably" will be running.
At it's roots politics is all about comparison. As much as the new GOP majority in the House has derailed some key legislation and as much as I can't stand their agenda having the party of NO actually in charge of something means that there will be a constant source of comparison between these idiots and our President I think you will see a steady rise in support for Obama as the GOP shows what they are about.
perhaps the "dumbing down of America" by certain GOP members has reached it's peak and more Americans now realize that President Obama is not a Muslim socialist out to doom America and drive us deeper in debt. His poll numbers are up because not only more people are seeing what he's done and is trying to do, but also more see what the GOP has NOT gotten done. The Democrats need to get out and keep telling us the positive direction this country is starting to move in because the Republicans are not going to do so. Even though corporations are starting to make record profits and the stock market is on the rebound, don't expect them to come out and give the president any credit either. Most of them are GOPers themselves.
I would think anyone could beat Jeb Bush – you'd have to be totally crazy or completely ignorant to give another Bush a shot at the presidency. Didn't the last one do enough damage?
I really wish we spent a lot less time and energy obsessing over who is going to win elections two years from now and more on increasing our understanding of the challenges we face and discussing possible ways to meet them. All this speculation, political gossip if you will, only encourages lawmakers to make their reelections and the success of their party a higher priority than the long term interests of the country or its citizenry.
CNN: More substance and less gossip. We can't effectively run a country on polls.
And if the poll was taken again with the knowledge that Jeb Bush would hire Karl Rove to direct traffic, the numbers would change siginificantly. If during the last election the mantra of "you don't want to have Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton" which hurt Hillary, then how do you think the country will respond to yet another Bush after the wild success of the other two?!
I know for certain that Republicans are stupid enough to buy inyo it, but do they think they fool the independents into buying that jive again?! Of course, being the sicko I am, I'd pay top dollar to see the Palin-Bachman-Bush dynamic play out.
Jeb would be a fine candidaye if his last name wasn't Bush.
Strange but true our president is connected by birth to all three continenet on planet Earth which is a plus for our bussinessmen. We are in unique prosition in our brief history with the world so why not saivor it. Said enough.