RALEIGH, N.C., Jan. 30 (UPI) -- In a hypothetical Republican presidential primary race for 2016, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee leads the field, a Public Policy Polling poll indicates..
Huckabee, who sought the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, polled at 16 percent, with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 14 percent, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 13 percent and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky with 11 percent, results released Wednesday indicated.
Among Democrats, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dominated the rest of the hypothetical field, pulling in 67 percent to 7 percent each for Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the Raleigh, N.C., polling agency said.
Huckabee recently raised eyebrows and stirred controversy when he defended the Republican Party against accusations that it was waging a war on women, saying the GOP was "having a war for women. To empower them to be something other than victims of their gender."
"If the Democrats want to insult the women of America by making them believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control, because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government, then so be it."
Christie has been embroiled in controversy following reports that members of his administration ordered lanes closed on the busy George Washington Bridge into New York because a Democratic mayor wouldn't endorse Christie's re-election bid.
Results are based on nationwide phone interviews with 845 registered voters from Jan. 23-26. The margin of error for the overall survey is 3.4 percentage points.
