Rand Paul Does Better Against Hillary Clinton than Marco Rubio in Iowa

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky, appears to have the edge over potential Republican presidential rival U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fl, in Iowa, the home of the first caucus according to a Quinnipiac poll released on Friday morning. While Barack Obama carried Iowa twice, Republicans remain competitive there in the general elections.

Surveying Iowa voters, the poll shows former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton edging Paul by 4 percent in Iowa while beating Rubio by 11 percent. Both Republicans lead Vice President Joe Biden. Paul beats Biden by 5 percent while Rubio only leads the vice president by 1 percent.

"The major difference between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vice President Joseph Biden is that she runs much better among independent voters, although Sen. Rand Paul runs better among that key group than either Democrat," said Peter Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute on Friday. "In general Sen. Paul appears to be the better GOP candidate at this point in Iowa. Part of the reason may be the publicity from his recent high-profile visit to the state, but more likely is that he begins with a solid base of support - the folks who voted for his father in the 2008 and 2012 caucuses."

The poll of 1,411 Iowa voters was taken from May 15-21 and had a margin of error of +/- 2.6 percent.