A new poll from Quinnipiac University shows 65 percent of Democrats would vote for Hillary Clinton if a presidential election was held today.
That support was split basically evenly between genders, with men actually supporting Clinton at a slightly higher rate: 66 percent of Democratic men and 65 percent of Democratic women said they'd vote for Clinton.
That a big shift from 2008, when much of Clinton's most vocal support during the Democratic presidential primary was from women. Clinton eventually lost the nomination to Barack Obama, but she went on to serve as Secretary of State and is now considered the frontrunner for not only the 2016 Democratic nomination but for the presidency as well.
Clinton's impressive support in her party is far beyond anything any Republican can boast at this point, though it is admittedly three years before the next presidential election.
While the country will undoubtedly split more closely along ideological lines before the nation actually heads to the polls again, this news does not bode well for Republican hopes to wun back the White House after an eight-year dry spell.
Perhaps their best bet is to somehow prevent Hillary Clinton from running. The same Quinnipiac poll shows no other Democratic candidate garners a majority of votes when Clinton is taken out of the equation. Support for Vice President Joe Biden jumps to 45 percent with Clinton out of the running, compared to only 13 percent if he runs against her.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo nets 15 percent without Clinton, but every other prominent Democrat floated in the poll (Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Virginia Senator Mark Warner, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley) sits in single digits, far below the popular choices of "Someone Else" and "I Don't Know."
Many liberals and progressives are clamoring for a Clinton presidency, noting not only her experience but also the huge step forward for gender equality her election would represent. But the Democratic Party should also hope she runs for their sake; their other options pale in comparison.