Marco Rubio dismisses UNF ’email poll’ showing him losing to Val Demings

0822_DemingsRubio_Politicians
'I just don't pay attention to those things, particularly the North Florida poll.'

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio says he doesn’t pay attention to polls, but he clearly does enough to offer a takedown of at least one survey.

The Senator appeared on Tuesday’s Fox and Friends when he was asked about a survey from the University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Lab that was released last week, showing him 4 points behind presumptive Democratic nominee U.S. Rep. Val Demings in November.

“Well, honestly after the last two years, we should have learned our lesson not to listen to the polls. I don’t listen, there’s a poll that came out two days later that said I was up by 11,” Rubio said, referring to a survey from the Center Street PAC.

“So I just don’t pay attention to those things, particularly the North Florida poll, which was an email poll. They emailed people,” Rubio said, going on to suggest that polling would be more meaningful as the General Election approached.

UNF PORL polling director Dr. Michael Binder acknowledged that it was an email poll, albeit one that should concern Rubio given his lag behind Gov. Ron DeSantis in the same survey.

“In one sense he’s right in that our poll was of registered voters, and we all know Republicans (for a variety of reasons) turnout better in November. So am I saying Demings would win by 4 right now if we ran the election today, no. But, this race is going to be close,” Binder said.

“He’s also right, we did email people. But in that same poll we had Ron DeSantis up 7 and 8 points on his potential Democratic challengers. That’s the real eye opener here, two Republicans for statewide offices running 11 or 12 points apart in the same poll.”

The UNF survey showed Demings with 48% support and Rubio with 44%, with Demings taking 94% support from Democrats, stronger than Rubio’s 89% with Democrats. No-party voters polled preferred Demings over Rubio, 46% to 36%.

While Rubio edged Demings with male voters, with 48% support compared to 45% for the challenger, he lagged with women. Demings was the preference of 50% of female voters, 10 points above Rubio.

Rubio is strongest in the UNF poll with White voters, with 52% preferring him over Demings, who drew 41% support. He also leads with Hispanic voters, 48% to 42%.

Black voters resoundingly prefer Demings, meanwhile, with just 2% saying they’d vote for Rubio in the UNF survey.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has written for FloridaPolitics.com since 2014. He is based in Northeast Florida. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


6 comments

  • Elliott Offen

    August 23, 2022 at 12:20 pm

    🎶Hey hey, ho ho, Boobio has got to go.
    Hey hey, ho ho, Boobio has got to go.
    Hey hey, ho ho, Boobio has got to go🎶

  • SteveHC

    August 23, 2022 at 12:47 pm

    G-D let’s hope it’s true; Rubio’s deliberately morphed himself into a full-blown member of the Trump-DeSantis sycophant drone-clone army.

  • marylou

    August 23, 2022 at 3:34 pm

    na na na na, hey hey, Rube, goodbye…

    Seniors who need their earned Social Security won’t vote for Marco. Women who don’t want the ghoul forcing them to carry headless fetuses will vote him out. Fathers who don’t want Marco forcing their 10 year old daughter to be a mother are sharpening their pitchforks. Workers who want the Lazy Rich’s free ride to end will “just say no” to Marco. Suburban moms who want a good education for their children will vote for Val Demings. You should, too !

    …..Go on and kiss Rube goodbye!

  • Russell Barbee

    August 23, 2022 at 5:40 pm

    To hell with polls. Ask Marco Rubio, “why” he should be re-elected? Whether his opponent is Demings, or anyone else? Rubio cannot justify remaining in office, ( in my opinion ).

  • Tracey Arpen

    August 23, 2022 at 9:05 pm

    FYI, Marco – UNF polls have an A/B rating from Nate Silver’s 538 Polls.

    • Darin Schneider

      August 25, 2022 at 9:44 am

      Their A/B rating is bound to go down after the doozies they put out. The same poll sample that showed Rubio behind also showed among Ds that Fried would beat Crist 47-43%. Crist won by 24.5% so they were only off 28.5%! They also whiffed the Jacksonville sheriff’s race as they showed the R ahead by 2% (41-39%) and he finished ahead by 14% (46.7-32.8%). These were both taken right before Tuesday’s election and at the same timeframe as the Rubio/Demings poll. So I wouldn’t look at the UNF poll either…

Comments are closed.


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