Rand Paul leads the GOP primary field nationally with 16 percent of the vote, according to the latest PPP poll, followed by Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, and Paul Ryan with 13 percent each and Marco Rubio with 10 percent. Paul has gained ground among conservatives in the wake of his filibuster of CIA nominee John Brennan over the administration’s drone policy.
The sixth-place finish for Rubio represents a fall for the Florida senator, who led each of the company’s polls since December. Rubio’s push for immigration reform appears to have hurt him among Republicans; PPP notes that he was “at 21 or 22% on all of our polls between January and March but his support has now dropped to half that level.”
Freshmen senator Ted Cruz leads among voters who define themselves as “very conservative,” with 20 percent of the vote, followed by Paul with 18 percent and Ryan with 17 percent. to 18% for Paul and 17% for Ryan. Perhaps not surprisingly, Christie leads with “moderate” Republicans.
The poll was conducted from July 19-21.