Former U.S. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton is out front with Florida Democrats while businessman Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., are ahead on the Republican side, a new poll shows.
St. Leo University released a poll on Wednesday showing Clinton with a commanding lead in the Sunshine State. A majority of Florida Democrats--51 percent--support Clinton. The poll was started before Vice President Joe Biden closed the door on running for the Democratic nomination and he places a distant second with 15 percent. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., garners 13 percent.
Trump leads on the Republican side with 26 percent with Rubio in second with 22 percent. Former Gov. Jeb Bush, R-Fla., and Dr. Ben Carson are knotted together in third with 15 percent each. The poll was taken before Wednesday’s Republican debate.
“Donald Trump is...leading in Florida, but more surprisingly, Jeb Bush is way down by 10 percent vs. Trump,” said Frank Orlando who teaches political science at St. Leo University in Pasco County. “Amazingly, he’s not even second with Marco Rubio ahead of him by 6 points. For someone [Bush] who was the governor of the state and still maintains his home here, that is pretty telling about his campaign.”
Businesswoman Carly Fiorina pulls 6 percent followed by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, with 5 percent. Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, takes 3 percent while U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., gets 2 percent. Former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La., and Gov. Chris Christie, R-NJ, pull 1 percent each. Other candidates--former Gov. Jim Gilmore, R-Va., U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, former Gov. George Pataki, R-NY, and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn., take less than 1 percent.
The poll of 409 likely voters was taken from Oct. 17-Oct. 22 and had a margin of error of +/- 5 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
