Mitch Perry
A new survey in Florida shows 47 percent of voters want Jeb Bush to drop out of the GOP presidential race, and 48 percent would prefer Marco Rubio do the same.
Those numbers come tucked inside a new survey conducted by Public Policy Polling, which shows that Donald Trump continues to lead all Republican candidates in Florida with 28 percent support. In second place is Dr. Ben Carson with 17 percent.
Bush and Rubio fall into line next in Florida. Bush is in third place with 13 percent support, while Rubio gets 10 percent and is in fourth place. Ted Cruz is next at 9 percent, Carly Fiorina at 7 percent, and John Kasich is at 5 percent.
“Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio are polling well behind Donald Trump and Ben Carson with Republicans even in their home state,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “And when you look at the overall Florida electorate, a plurality of voters think Bush and Rubio should just end their campaigns.”
Only 40 percent of voters in the state think Bush should keep running, compared to 47 percent who think he should drop out. Just 42 percent believe Rubio should continue on with his campaign to 48 percent who believe he should end it.
In an interesting twist, Rubio would beat Trump in a one-on-one matchup in Florida, whereas Bush would lose to the New York City real estate mogul. Rubio edges out Trump 49-46 percent, while Trump blasts Bush out of the water, winning by a 55-38 percent margin. And Trump is actually has a slightly higher favorability rating in the Sunshine State in comparison to the former Florida Governor. Trump’s 56/35 favorability rating comes in a tick ahead of Bush’s 55/36 favorability. When we polled the state earlier this year Bush led the Republican field at 25 percent, and boasted a 66/24 rating.
The news is not quite as dim for Rubio. His 73/20 favorability makes him the most broadly liked of the Republicans in the state, and he edges out Trump 49/46 if voters had to pick just between the two of them. His support has declined from earlier this year too, but only by 5 points from its previous 15% standing as opposed to Bush’s 12 point descent.
Public Policy Polling surveyed 814 voters from September 11-13, including 377 Republican primary voters and 368 Democratic primary voters. The margin of error for the overall survey is +/-3.4 percent, for the Republican primary voters it’s +/-5.1 percent, and for the Democratic primary voters it’s +/-5.1 percent.
Eighty percent of participants responded via the phone, while 20 percent of respondents who did not have landlines conducted the survey over the internet.
