Rank GOP Candidates by Electability

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Assuming that they somehow win the GOP nomination, who has the best chance of winning the GE?

Rough order:

Christie
Rubio
Kasich
Bush
Fiorina
Gilmore
Trump
Cruz
Paul
Huckabee
Santorum
Carson

[Ljube]

Only Trump and Christie are electable. The others are low energy losers.

[Higgs]

Rubio
Paul
Christie
Cruz

-------

Bush
Kasich
Trump
Carson
Fiorina

-------

Huckabee
Santorum
Gilmore

[yankeesfan]

Christie (pre- Bridgegate)
Cruz
Rubio (due to scandals)
Christie (post- Bridgegate)
Bush (due to 43)
Trump

Nobody else

[Fuzzy Bear]

Rubio
Cruz
Christie
Bush
Kasich
Paul
Huckabee
Trump******
Santorum
Fiorina
Carson
Gilmore

I consider Trump to be an incredible wild card.  He's the one candidate who could actually expand the map for the GOP, and I mean by picking up 6-7 new states.  He's also the guy who could saddle the GOP with a major beating, although he'd still carry 8-9 of 11 Southern states and most of the Mountain West and Great Plains.

As for Carson and Fiorina, I believe that both of these candidates have seen their peaks.  I don't think independent voters would take Carson seriously, and I think that Fiorina would come off as even more strident than Hillary Clinton.  I see the "anti-Establishment" vote to be the province of Donald J. Trump, period, with Ted Cruz trying to get the leftovers.

[Maxwell]

Christie
Rubio
Trump
Cruz

The rest of the candidates aren't worth ranking because they won't win the nomination.

I can see an argument for Rubio at the bottom due to his major potential for scandals.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Rubio (on paper)
Bush
Kasich
Gilmore
Trump
Cruz
Christie (unindicted)
Rubio (in reality)

I don't think any of the rest are electable nationally under anything but a massively improbable collection of bizzare circumstances.

[Broken System]

1 Cruz
2 Christie
3 Rubio
4 Carson
5 Trump
6 Fiorina
7 Santorum
8 Paul
9 Huckabee
10 Kasich
11 Gilmore
12 Bush

[Wells]

1. Rubio
2. Cruz
3. Trump
4. Bush
5. Christie
6. Kasich
7. Carson
8. Walker
9. Paul
10. Fiorina
11. Pataki
12. Graham
13. Gilmore
14. Huckabee
15. Jindal
16. Santorum
17. Perry

[The Other Castro]

Rubio
Christie

Paul


Kasich
Bush


Trump
Cruz
Carson
Huckabee

Santorum
Fiorina
Gilmore

[mds32]

Kasich
Rubio
Christie
Bush
Fiorina
Gilmore
Paul
Cruz
Trump
Huckabee
Santorum
Carson

[RR1997]

Rubio
Christie/Trump
Cruz/Carson

I'm only going to rank the candidates that have a chance of winning the nomination

[Penelope]

(actually could win over independents and some democrats - white ones, mind you)

1. Trump
2. Christie

(hoping that the demographics and turnout levels go back to 2004 or earlier levels)

3. Cruz

(hoping that being the son of a Cuban immigrant or being married to a hispanic immigrant will win over hispanic voters)

4. Rubio
5. Bush

(hoping that people have an "oops" moment in the voting booth)

6. Carson