Poll: H. Clinton vs. Christie in 2016?

RALEIGH, N.C., April 17 (UPI) -- With the U.S. 2012 presidential election seven months away, Hillary Clinton and Chris Christie lead the field in a 2016 presidential poll released Tuesday.

Public Policy Polling in Raleigh, N.C., said a poll it conducted found Clinton, the U.S. Secretary of State, the front-runner among Democrats, with 57 percent. Vice President Joe Biden is second at 14 percent, followed by Elizabeth Warren, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts this year, at 6 percent, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo at 5 percent, Russ Feingold, a former U.S. senator from Wisconsin, at 3 percent, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia at 2 percent, and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer at 1 percent each.

If Clinton doesn't run, Biden's number would improve to 32 percent, followed by Cuomo at 18 percent, 8 percent for Warren, 6 percent for Feingold, 2 percent each for O'Malley and Warner., and 1 percent for Schweitzer.

Cuomo jumps to the front of the class with both Clinton and Biden out of the picture.

On the Republican side, the poll put Christie, the governor of New Jersey, in front at 21, followed by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 17 percent each. Rick Santorum, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania who dropped out of this year's race, is next at 12 percent, followed by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida at 10 percent, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin at 7 percent, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky at 4 percent and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal at 3 percent.

The polling firm surveyed 742 Republican primary voters and 620 Democratic primary voters from Thursday through Saturday. The margin of error for the Republican survey is 3.6 percentage points and for the Democrats it's 3.9 points.