4 takeaways from the most recent 2016 presidential poll

Hillary Clinton’s Democratic primary lead over Vice President Joe Biden is measured at 50 points while Rand Paul hangs tough in the muddled slog on the Republican side.

Here are 4 quick takeaways summarizing what you need to know from the latest national 2016 Quinnipiac University poll:

1. The Cruz Boom Is Real – At least for the moment.  Public Policy Polling found an 8-point surge for Ted Cruz nationally among Republicans last week in the wake of his Obamacare filibuster.  Quinnipiac wasn’t even polling him back in April and now pegs him at 10 percent, which is only good enough for a fifth place tie.  Watch that gender gap though; Men prefer Cruz over women 13 percent to 7 percent.
2. No Depth To The Democratic Field — Consider that Quinnipiac tracked six Republican contenders in double-digits without even including Rick Perry or Rick Santorum.  On the Democratic side, only Hillary and Biden secured double-digits and the Veep, just by the skin of his teeth, with 11 percent.  Three of the Democrats included — Mark Warner, Martin O’Malley and Deval Patrick — basically amounted to asterisks.  It’s not even Hillary or Biden or bust, it’s really only Hillary or bust for the Dems.
3. Ryan & Rubio In Decline – While Rand Paul gained a nominal two points to inch him up to 17 percent, both Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Marco Rubio experienced the biggest declines in their party since the spring.  The Florida freshman has dropped from 19 percent to 12 percent while the Wisconsin budget chairman has fallen from 17 percent to 10 percent.  Those are two 7 point drops outside the margin of error.
4. Even Chris Christie Is Undefined – Those of us immersed in the day-to-day scrum of politics may find this astounding — but more than a third of national voters no real opinion of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.  While he’s the only GOPer to hold a net favorable rating — 40 percent to 22 percent — a full 36 percent say they haven’t heard enough to form an opinion.   Perhaps that’ can be attributed to his 13 point deficit to Hillary Clinton in a hypothetical, largely meaningless general election match-up.

Follow Dave’s blog at TheRun2016.com