Poll: Romney leads GOP contenders

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Mitt Romney continues to be the top choice of Republicans for 2016, as the party struggles to unite behind other possible contenders, a new poll shows.

The former Massachusetts governor and 2012 Republican presidential nominee leads the pack with 19 percent of Republicans voters' support, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released Wednesday. Trailing Romney are former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush with 11 percent, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Dr. Ben Carson each with eight percent, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul with 6 percent. Other potential candidates failed to gain more than 5 percent.

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Sixteen percent of Republicans said they are undecided.

Taking Romney out the equation, enthusiasm among the possible GOP contenders is less concentrated with Bush leading at 14 percent and Christie following close behind with 11 percent. Rounding out the GOP field are Carson with nine percent, Paul with eight percent, and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who each received seven percent.

The number of undecided Republican voters jumps to 19 percent without Romney.

The results of the Quinnipiac poll echo those of a Bloomberg Politics/St. Anselm poll released earlier this week, which also showed strong support for a Romney bid among Republicans.

For the Democrats, Hillary Clinton again boasts a strong base of support with 57 of Democrats saying they would vote for the former secretary of state. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vice President Joe Biden trail Clinton with 14 percent and nine percent of the vote, respectively.

Fourteen percent of Democrats said they are undecided.

However, with Clinton out, Biden's support jumps to 34 percent among Democrats, with Warren at 25 percent.

While Clinton beats the other potential GOP candidates in hypothetical match-ups, she comes up short against Romney 44-45.

The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted Nov. 18-13 and surveyed 1,623 registered voters and has a margin of error of +/- 2.4 percentage points. The survey includes 610 Democrats with a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points and 707 Republicans with a margin of error of +/- 3.7 percentage points.