Mitch Perry
By a wide margin, Floridians do not approve of Marco Rubio running for president next year, and think it best that he should concentrate his efforts on running for reelection to his Senate seat in 2016, according to a Mason-Dixon poll released on Monday. And that sentiment includes most Republicans.
Just 15 percent of those responding approve of the freshman Senator entering the 2016 sweepstakes, while 57 percent say he should stay in the Senate. An additional 15 percent were unsure. Amongst Republicans, the news doesn’t get much better for Marco: Only 19 percent say they support such a candidacy, while 68 percent say he should remain in the Senate.
The poll results come as Rubio remains in a flirtatious posture regarding a potential run for the White House, insisting that no amount of money Jeb Bush raises would deter him from running. But both and the former Florida governor draw from an overlapping pool of donors, and some of Rubio’s biggest fundraisers have already said they would be supporting Bush in 2016.
Amongst Florida Republicans, Jeb Bush is clearly the people’s choice, with 59 percent from the GOP endorsing such a candidacy. 31 percent say he should not run, and 10 percent say they aren’t sure.
Florida independents are almost just as high on a Bush candidacy, with 50 percent supporting such a run, and 36 percent opposing it.
Although Bush is considered to have been a successful governor during his two-terms in office, he was never a favorite of most Democrats, so the fact that overall the state is split on his candidacy shouldn’t be a surprise. 42 percent of all voters surveyed say he should run for the White House; 43 percent say he should not, and 15 percent say they aren’t sure.
The poll interviewed a total of 625 registered Florida voters statewide from January 27 through January 29. It has a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.
