Bush Surging, Rand Paul Plunging in GOP Primary Voters Poll

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is losing support among likely Republican primary voters, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

The poll shows support growing for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who made his candidacy official only last week.

But Paul, who jumped in early on April 7, has shown a decline, Politico notes.

Only 49 percent of likely GOP voters said they could see themselves voting for Paul for president in June. That's a 10 percent drop from the same survey in April, when he had just announced.

Bush headed up the poll, which 75 percent, a rise of five percent from April.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio came in a close second, with 74 percent support. But Rubio had the highest margin of support. Only 15 percent said the couldn't see themselves supporting Rubio as the nominee, giving him a difference of plus-59.

Bush, on the other hand, had 22 percent of respondents saying they couldn't support him. That gives Bush a plus-53.

Fifty-seven percent said they could support Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. And real-estate mogul Donald Trump, who also announced last week, found only 32 percent support. Sixty-six percent said the couldn't support him, giving him a negative 34.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina all found double-digit gains over two months ago.

Below are the overall scores, combining negatives and positives, from the poll:

• Marco Rubio: 74 percent-15 percent (+59)
• Jeb Bush: 75 percent-22 percent (+53)
• Scott Walker: 57 percent-19 percent (+38)
• Mike Huckabee: 65 percent-32 percent (+33)
• Ben Carson: 50 percent-21 percent (+29)
• Rick Perry: 53 percent-31 percent (+22)
• Ted Cruz: 51 percent-31 percent (+20)
• Rick Santorum: 49 percent-40 percent (+9)
• Bobby Jindal: 36 percent-28 percent (+8)
• Rand Paul: 49 percent-45 percent (+4)
• Carly Fiorina: 31 percent-29 percent (+2)
• John Kasich: 25 percent-30 percent (-5)
• Chris Christie: 36 percent-55 percent (-19)
• Lindsey Graham: 27 percent-49 percent (-22)
• George Pataki: 13 percent-44 percent (-31)
• Donald Trump 32 percent-66 percent (-34)

The poll was conducted June 14-18 and talked to 236 likely GOP voters. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 6.4 percentage points.

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