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Call Hillary Clinton the early presidential frontrunner - but barely.

That's the result from a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, which finds that half of American voters - 50 percent - saying they could see themselves supporting her if she runs for the White House in 2016, while 48 percent oppose her.

Although that margin of support is small, it stands in sharp contrast to the numbers for well-known Republicans, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who announced on Tuesday that he's "actively" exploring a presidential bid.

More than a year before the first votes will be cast:

Despite these numbers - which could certainly change as the presidential field becomes clearer - Clinton is far from a lock on the presidency.

A whopping 71 percent of American voters want the next president to take a different approach than President Barack Obama's; Clinton served as his first-term secretary of state.

And by 40 percent to 38 percent, voters prefer a Republican to win the White House in 2016 instead of a Democrat.

"This is an electorate -by a large margin - looking for change," says Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted this survey with Democratic pollster Peter Hart and his colleagues at Hart Research Associates.

Breaking down the Democratic and Republican fields

Still, Clinton has a substantial lead among Democratic voters - 82 percent say they could see themselves supporting if she runs, versus 15 percent who can't.

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Hillary Clinton Early Leader in Presidential Race: Poll