Poll: Voters like Bush, Rubio, but not Trump

WASHINGTON — Republicans like Jeb Bush. And a lot really don’t like Donald Trump.

More than half find Trump a distraction from the primary process, not a serious candidate.

With the first Republican presidential debate to be held Thursday, a new McClatchy-Marist poll finds that a majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents view Bush favorably. Large numbers also like Marco Rubio and Mike Huckabee, far more than dislike them.

But nearly half dislike Trump, suggesting that the billionaire businessman who leads national Republican polls will have a hard time reaching those hostile voters and attracting more supporters, while several others have room to surge.

The debate in Cleveland, the first of a monthly series, will include the 10 Republicans, plus ties, atop an average of national polls. As many as seven other candidates will not qualify and instead can participate in a forum.

The McClatchy-Marist poll measures how voters feel about the candidates for the Republican and Democratic nominations.

The favorable numbers illustrate whether a candidate starts with goodwill. As the primary campaign develops, voters who like a candidate or see him favorably are more open to hearing their message. Analysts also note that when voters don’t like a candidate, they’re much less likely to be open to supporting them.

Bush, a former governor of Florida, has the highest favorable number, 51 percent, with 30 percent disliking him.

Rubio, a senator from Florida, gets favorable notices from 49 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents and negative ratings from 15 percent.

Other prominent challengers had unfavorable ratings of less than 20 percent but were largely unknown to much of the public, including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina were seen far more unfavorably than favorably.

Here’s the list, ranked by favorability, followed by unfavorability:

Bush, 51 percent favorable, 30 percent unfavorable. Rubio, 49-15. Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, 45-30. Walker, 43-16. Trump, 42-49. Carson, 40-10. Rick Perry, former governor of Texas, 38-26.

Rand Paul, senator from Kentucky, 38-37.

Ted Cruz, senator from Texas, 37-24.

Rick Santorum, former senator from Pennsylvania, 31-27. Christie, 31-44. Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana, 29-17.

Carly Fiorina, former business executive, 26-12.

John Kasich, governor of Ohio, 23-14. Graham, 15-40. Jim Gilmore, former governor of Virginia, 2-15.

Former New York Gov. George Pataki was not included in the poll.

Among Democrats, front-runner Hillary Clinton was seen overwhelmingly favorably by Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents. Her challengers are barely known, not even Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who’s been drawing big crowds and support from the party’s liberal wing.

Clinton, 72 percent favorable, 22 percent unfavorable. Sanders, 34-16. Jim Webb, former senator from Virginia, 12-14.

Martin O’Malley, former governor of Maryland, 10-13.

Lincoln Chafee, former governor of Rhode Island, 8-14.