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Polls: Christie is GOP presidential frontrunner

Let the balloons fall and the confetti fly. Though it may be more than two and a half years until the next Republican National Convention, the GOP already has itself a frontrunner for the 2016 presidential nomination, according to two national polls.

N.J. Gov. Chris Christie leads the pack of possible Republican candidates by a sizable margin, according to a CNN/ORC poll released Friday morning. He also tops a poll of likely Iowa Republican caucus goers, but by a slimmer margin, according to the Harper/Conservative Intel poll issued on Tuesday. More surprisingly, the Iowa poll revealed that if the presidential election were to be held today, Christie would be the only Republican contender who could defeat Hillary Clinton.

Among potential voters likely to cast a vote for a Republican, Christie's numbers shot up after his November landslide victory over his gubernatorial challenger. The CNN/ORC poll, conducted Nov. 18th through the 20th, found Christie taking 23 percent of the likely votes, up from 17 percent in early September.

The next closest contender, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, trailed in Christie's dust, garnering 13 percent of the 418 Republicans surveyed.

Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida followed with about 10 percent a piece. Splitting the remaining voters polled with about 6 percent each were Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and former Pa. Sen. Rick Santorum.

The Harper/Conservative Intel poll also indicated that according to 985 Iowans surveyed, Clinton would trounce Cruz, Ryan, Paul and Rubio.