(CNN) – What if it turns out to be Hillary Clinton vs. Chris Christie in 2016?
It's a fascinating presidential showdown possibility.
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And according to a new poll, Clinton would come out on top in such a hypothetical face-off in the battle for Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes.
That's one of the findings from a survey released Thursday from Quinnipiac University, which asked Keystone voters about nine possible general election matchups in the next race for the White House.
According to the poll, the former first lady, Democratic senator from New York and secretary of state, edges out the Republican New Jersey governor 47%-42%. The survey also indicates Clinton would top Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida 54%-36% and would beat Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the House Budget Committee chairman and last year's GOP vice presidential nominee, 50%-38%.
While Clinton has consistently said she has no plans to run again for the White House, she hasn't categorically ruled out a bid.
"Former First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is keeping her future plans to herself, but if those plans include another run for the White House, she starts in a good position in Pennsylvania," says Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
If Vice President Joe Biden became the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, the poll suggests it would be a different story.
Biden would trail Christie by 13 points and would be edged by three points by Ryan but would edge Rubio by four points. The single digit margins are within the survey's sampling error.
According to the poll, Christie would lead New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo by 21 points, with Cuomo slightly edging out Ryan and Rubio among Pennsylvania voters in hypothetical matchups.
Quinnipiac asked the same showdowns in a national survey earlier this month.
The last time a Republican carried Pennsylvania in a presidential election was 1988.
One caveat with such polling is that the next presidential election is still three and a half years away, and surveys this early in a campaign cycle are often heavily influenced by name recognition.
The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted March 6-11, with 1,116 registered voters in Pennsylvania questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
– CNN Political Editor Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
