Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
Don’t call Florida for Donald Trump quite yet.
Trump continues to lead in Florida, but that margin is shrinking, according to a new Associated Industries of Florida survey of likely Republican primary voters. Trump leads the GOP field with 34 percent, followed by Marco Rubio with 27 percent. Ted Cruz rounds out the Top 3 with 17 percent.
The survey found Rubio is the most well liked among the top three Republican hopefuls. Sixty-seven percent of respondents said they had a favorable opinion of Rubio. Of those, 20 percent stated that they had a very favorable opinion of the Florida senator. Nine percent of respondents said they had a very unfavorable opinion of Rubio.
Fifty-two percent of respondents said they had a favorable opinion of Trump; while 51 percent said they had a favorable opinion of Cruz.
That margin separating Trump and Rubio paints a much different picture of the race from the Quinnipiac University Poll released earlier Thursday. In that survey, Trump leads the Republican pack with 44 percent compared to Rubio’s 28 percent.
On Wednesday, Rubio told CBS This Morning that he will “win in Florida.”
Florida’s winner-take-all primary is on March 15. Millions of Floridians requested vote-by-mail ballots, and thousands of votes have already been cast.
The poll found Ben Carson and John Kasich tied with 5 percent support. It also found 12 percent of respondents said they were undecided.
The Associated Industries of Florida poll was conducted Tuesday and Wednesday evening. The poll surveyed 600 likely Republican primary voters and has a margin of error of 4 percent.
