Mitch Perry
Tuesday a Public Policy Polling survey showed that a majority of Floridians wanted neither Jeb Bush nor Marco Rubio to run for president in 2016.
That was so yesterday. Literally.
A new poll released Wednesday morning from St. Leo University shows quite the opposite: Sixty-three percent of Floridians want Bush to run for president, and 58 percent say they want Rubio to do so as well.
A Bush/Rubio matchup shows the former governor besting the current U.S. senator, 39-30 percent.
The poll contains plenty of information about possible Senate candidates. It shows that if Rubio opts to run for re-election next year, 52 percent of all Floridians — Republicans, Democrats and independents — would vote for him again.
But if he doesn’t run?
We’ve seen Patrick Murphy announce his candidacy this week for U.S. Senate, and judging by the fact that he’s only garnering 7 percent support right now, it’s best for him that he’s off to an early start.
The two top-ranking Democrats in the survey — Charlie Crist at 33 percent, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz at 14 percent — have already announced that they won’t pursue dreams of being part of the Gang of 100. (Crist endorsed Murphy earlier Wednesday). Tampa area U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor is at 8 percent, South Florida U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch is at 4 percent, and former state legislator Dan Gelber is at 1 percent.
Deutch endorsed Murphy this week. Castor had no comment when Florida Politics asked her thoughts about Murphy’s entry into the race.
On the Republican side, Pam Bondi is the favorite, with 26 percent showing support for a run for the Senate (that’s in contrast to the PPP survey showing Allen West with the most support). Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam is next at 14 percent. CFO Jeff Atwater is at 13 percent. Former House Speaker Will Weatherford gets 6 percent support. Eight percent prefer another candidate (the West vote?) and a whopping 33 percent say they don’t know or aren’t sure.
