Hillary Clinton appears to be more popular in Kansas than her husband ever was when he ran for president, but she would still have a hard time carrying the Sunflower State if she were the Democratic nominee in 2016, according to a survey by Public Policy Polling.

The survey of 693 Kansas voters taken Feb. 18-20 shows Clinton getting roughly 40 percent of the vote, but still trailing in head-to-head match-ups with the most talked-about GOP contenders. She trails former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, 50-41; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, 46-39; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, 49-42; and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, 48-41.

By comparison, her husband, former President Bill Clinton, received only 33.74 percent of the vote in Kansas in the 1992 three-way race against then-President George H.W. Bush and independent candidate Ross Perot. And he got 36 percent of the vote in 1996 against Kansas native son Bob Dole.

Those findings were part of the same poll released last week that showed Democrat Paul Davis leading incumbent GOP Gov. Sam Brownback, 42-40, in the upcoming gubernatorial race.

PPP is a private polling firm based in North Carolina that works principally with Democratic and progressive-leaning candidates.

A few other interesting tidbits from their Kansas poll:

• Kansas University is more popular than K-State: 38 percent of those surveyed consider themselves Jayhawk fans, compared to only 34 percent for the Wildcats.

• KU basketball coach Bill Self enjoys a 79-percent job approval rating among Jayhawk fans, but only 37 percent approve of the job football coach Charlie Weis is doing.

• Jayhawk-turned-Tarheel basketball coach Roy Williams still has a 63-percent favorability rating among KU fans.

• K-State football coach Bill Snyder has an 81-percent job approval rating among Wildcat fans, while 60 percent of Wildcat fans approve of the job coach Bruce Weber is doing.

• The Kansas City Royals are the most popular Major League Baseball team in the state (49 percent), although that might have been lower, especially in western Kansas, if the Colorado Rockies were offered as an option. The Yankees poll only 4 percent in Kansas, tied with the St. Louis Cardinals.