A new poll has bad news for presidential hopefuls former Gov. Jeb Bush, R-Fla., and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in their own backyard. Public Policy Polling (PPP), a firm with connections to prominent Democrats, released a poll on Tuesday showing the two candidates trailing in the Republican primary in their backyard.
“Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio are polling well behind Donald Trump and Ben Carson with
Republicans even in their home state,” said Dean Debnam, the president of PPP, on Tuesday.
Trump leads the field with 28 percent followed by Carson with 17 percent. Bush takes third with 13 percent and Rubio fourth with 10 percent.
A Gravis Marketing poll released earlier in the week also found Trump ahead, Carson in second and Bush in third.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, pulls fifth in the new poll with 9 percent followed by businesswoman Carly Fiorina with 7 percent. Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, gets 5 percent.
The rest of the field lags in low single digits. Former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., takes 3 percent while two current governors -- Chris Christie of New Jersey and Scott Walker of Wisconsin -- get 2 percent each. Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La., and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., take 1 percent apiece. Five candidates -- former Gov. Jim Gilmore, R-Va., U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.., former Gov. George Pataki, R-N.Y., U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and former Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas -- take less than 1 percent each. Perry ended his campaign on Friday as the poll was being taken.
The poll shows Rubio in good shape with Florida Republicans despite his fourth place showing, with 73 percent of them seeing him as favorable while 20 percent view him unfavorably. Carson does even better with 72 percent viewing him in a favorable light while only 13 percent see him as unfavorable. Fiorina is also in strong shape with 63 percent seeing her as favorable while only 14 percent see her unfavorably.
Trump and Bush are in the same ballpark with Florida Republicans with 55 percent seeing the former governor as favorable and 56 percent viewing Trump as favorable. But 35 percent see both of the Republican candidates as unfavorable. Cruz does even better with 56 percent viewing him as favorable and only 24 percent seeing him as unfavorable. Huckabee is seen as favorable by a slight majority -- 51 percent -- but 34 percent see him in an unfavorable light.
Walker is less known but 49 percent of Florida Republicans see him as favorable while 19 percent view him unfavorably. Kasich is seen as favorable by 38 percent but 25 percent see the Ohio governor as unfavorable.
Christie is upside down with only 38 percent viewing him as favorable while 48 percent see him as unfavorable. Paul is in even worse shape with 48 percent viewing him in an unfavorable light while 27 percent see him as favorable.
When matched against the other candidates in one-on-one matches, Trump produces mixed results. Carson beats him 51 percent to 41 percent while Rubio leads Trump 49 percent to 46 percent. Trump runs even with Fiorina as both get 46 percent. Trump routs Bush 55 percent to 38 percent and leads Walker 54 percent to 39 percent.
The poll of 377 Florida Republicans was taken from Sept. 11-13 and had a margin of error of +/- 5.1 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
