Poll: Marco Rubio has an early lead in Minnesota

With six weeks before the Minnesota caucus, Marco Rubio is slightly ahead his Republican opponents.

A Star Tribune Minnesota poll found Rubio leads the Republican field with 23 percent, followed by Ted Cruz at 21 percent. Donald Trump is at 18 percent while Ben Carson is at 11 percent. The survey of registered voters found Jeb Bush is at 7 percent.

Rubio’s lead is within the margin of sampling error of 3.5 percent.

Among Republican field, the Rubio has the highest favorability rating, with 38 percent of respondents saying they had a favorable opinion of the Florida Republican. Trump and Bush have the highest unfavorable marks, with 61 percent of respondents saying they had an unfavorable opinion of the candidates.

The poll found Hillary Clinton has a wide lead over Bernie Sanders, 59 percent to 25 percent. However, 52 percent of those surveyed said they had an unfavorable opinion of Clinton.

Rubio comes out on top in a general election hypothetical matchup between him and Clinton, 49 percent to 40 percent. In a general election matchup between Clinton and Trump, 43 percent of respondents said they would choose Clinton; while 38 percent opted for Trump.

The Minnesota caucuses are on March 1.