If Donald Trump runs as a third party or independent candidate, he would outpace the Republican candidate in Florida, a new poll shows.
The celebrity businessman has not ruled out ditching the GOP and going third party if the Republican establishment fixes the nomination contest against him. St. Leo University released a poll on Wednesday which shows Trump would hand Florida, the largest swing state on the map, to former U.S. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, the favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Trump takes a third of the vote--33.4 percent--when former Gov. Jeb Bush, R-Fla., is the Republican candidate. Clinton pulls 41.8 percent in Florida while Bush garners only 19.1 percent.
Businesswoman Carly Fiorina does even worse as the Republican nominee, getting only 12.9 percent of those surveyed while Clinton pulls 47.5 percent and Trump claims 30.7 percent.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., pulls the most support when he’s factored in as the Republican nominee but he is still behind Trump. In that scenario, Clinton leads with 44.8 percent, Trump takes 28.2 percent and Rubio gets 21.8 percent.
When U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is the Republican candidate, Clinton leads with 46 percent. Trump takes 27.7 percent while Cruz pulls 21.3 percent.
Clinton pulls 45.5 percent while Dr. Ben Carson takes 20.3 percent as the Republican candidate in the three-candidate race. Trump takes 27.7 percent in this scenario.
When St. Leo narrowed the general election to a two-candidate race, Clinton leads the potential Republican nominees. Clinton does best when matched against Fiorina, leading her 55.2 percent to 29.7 percent. Pitted against Cruz, Clinton leads 53 percent to 34.7 percent. Clinton also gets a majority of those surveyed--51.2 percent--when matched against Carson who gets 39.1 percent.
Despite having served two terms as governor, Bush garners 37.9 percent while Clinton leads with 47.3 percent. Rubio and Trump are closer but still trail Clinton. Both Rubio and Trump takes 41.2 percent apiece in the poll. Clinton takes 48.9 percent against Trump and 48 percent against Rubio.
Asked which of the candidates would be best in securing America against terrorism, 25.2 percent of those surveyed say Trump while 22.8 percent think Clinton would do the best job while 9.7 percent say Bush, 5.4 percent think Cruz is the top choice while 4.2 percent point to Carson. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who is running for the Democratic nomination, is seen by 5.7 percent as the presidential candidate who is best prepared to make America safe from terrorist attacks.
The poll of 404 likely voters in Florida was taken from Nov. 29-Dec. 3 and had a margin of error of /- 5 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
