POLL: Hillary Clinton Loses Ground Against GOP Rivals
Clinton, the Democratic front-runner in the still far-away contest, leads her opponents by noticeably smaller margins than she held in April, when the poll was last conducted.
Against New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), for example, the McClatchy-Marist poll found Clinton dropped 5% since April and 15% since February. She now leads Christie by just 47% to 41%. The story is the same for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R). In April, Clinton led Bush by a strong 16%. Now, she leads with just 7%. And against Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), Clinton's 14% lead in April dropped to 6%.
A press release announcing the poll attributed the shift "largely" to independent voters, a group Clinton still holds but not to the extent she did before.
In a statement, pollster Lee Miringoff also appeared to blame Clinton's occasional stumbles on the campaign trail for her declining performance in the survey. Clinton, who has said she's still undecided about a White House bid, has repeatedly struggled to explain her wealth, among other things.
"There is no preseason for team Clinton," Miringoff said. "She needs to perform at Super Bowl-level from start to finish."
View the full results below.