Jeb Bush's name keeps coming up when people discuss possible Republican presidential candidates in 2012, even though he's said time and time again he won't. Probably because he's said he think President Barack Obama can probably still win re-election. Well, according to a Fox News poll Bush is erring on the side of safety, because Obama would beat him handily. However, if Bush wanted a Senate seat he could probably have Bill Nelson's.
The Fox News poll was carried out by two polling firms, each aligned with the two political parties, and Barack Obama is still pulling much better than any Republican possibility.
He beats Jeb Bush 54 percent to 34 percent. That's actually a big improvement since September when Obama would have only beat Bush 45 to 37 percent.
Only 21 percent of Americans say Bush would be a good president, with only 39 percent of Republicans saying he'd do a good job. To put that in prospective, 40 percent of Republicans say Sarah Palin would be a good president. I'm not sure if that says more about Jeb Bush or the Republican base.
The Republicans with the best chance at this point are Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. Though Obama would beat Romney 48-41, and Huckabee 49-41. In both cases Obama holds a greater lead than he did back in September.
So perhaps Bush is smart for putting off any presidential aspirations until 2016.
However, if he wants to get back in the politics game soon he could probably easy beat incumbent Democratic Senator Bill Nelson in 2012. A new Mason-Dixon poll shows Bush beating Nelson 49 to 40 percent. Bush would be the only Republican to come into the race with a lead. So far Nelson is polling higher than any other potential challengers.
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