Here we go.

We’ve officially entered the 2016 cycle, and it has opened in a predictable fashion: The touting of premature polls of the electorate that purport to show that the race is already over. On Tuesday, a Quinnipiac University survey of a variety of key swing states is set to lead observers to draw a variety of erroneous conclusions about the political landscape ahead of the coming presidential election.

A poll conducted in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio that tested Hillary Clinton’s general election strength when matched up against a variety of likely Republican challengers concluded definitively that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is best positioned to take on the former secretary of state.

The poll concluded that Bush is the most likely Republican to challenge Clinton for dominance in Florida, a state Republicans must win in 2016 if they hope to retake the White House.

In Florida, she got 50 percent support or greater in hypothetical races with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. She even bested Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.), 49 percent to 39 percent. Bush attracted 43 percent to Clinton’s 44 percent.

Clinton enjoyed significant support in Ohio, beating Bush, Christie, Paul and Huckabee by significant margins. She beat Bush by 47 percent to 36 percent and Christie 47 percent to 34 percent. Both are expected to enjoy significant support from the Republican establishment and its wealthy donors.

The revelation that Bush dramatically outperforms Rubio among Florida voters might come as a surprise to some conservatives, particularly those who are avid followers of politics. But this result only tells half the story. Quinnipiac also found that Ohio Gov. John Kasich, perhaps an unlikely candidate for the presidency, performed better than any other Republican in the race in his home state of Ohio. Kasich wins the support of 43 percent of Ohioans versus 44 percent who back Clinton, identical to Bush’s performance against Clinton in Florida.

In Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton trounces all comers (perhaps a sign that the GOP should disinvest in the Keystone State in 2016 and sink those funds into more competitive Upper Midwestern battlegrounds). The most competitive Republican candidate Quinnipiac tested in Pennsylvania, however, was neither Bush nor Kasich, but the governor of neighboring New Jersey, Chris Christie.

What this survey has proven conclusively is that polling at this stage of the 2016 presidential race is a test of name recognition alone. Hillary Clinton enjoys near universal name identification while Bush, Kasich, and Christie are relatively well-known in their home or neighboring states. Did you really need a poll to tell you that?

A presidential campaign and the primary elections that precede it are vehicles designed to develop name recognition. Until the primaries are well underway, polling of the general electorate is next to useless. The only purpose polling at this stage serves is to advance a candidate’s fundraising prospects.