Democrats and Republicans alike remain undecided in who they want to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in the U.S. Senate next year. Currently running for the Republican presidential nomination, Rubio has ruled out running for a second term in the Senate.
St. Leo University released a poll on Wednesday showing a majority of Florida Republicans--56.5 percent--are undecided on who they want to see as their Senate candidate next year.
U.S. Rep. David Jolly, R-Fla., who has been in the headlines lately for calling on businessman Donald Trump to end his presidential bid after calling for a temporary ban on letting Muslims into the U.S., takes 11.6 percent while Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera pulls 8.2 percent.
Businessman and Army veteran Todd Wilcox gets 6.8 percent while U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., takes 6.1 percent. Conservative activist Ilya Katz pulls 4.1 percent while 6.8 percent support other Republican candidates not included in the poll.
Former Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and conservative leader Dan Bongino, both of whom have entered the door for entering the Republican primary, were not included in the poll.
On the Democratic side, almost half of those surveyed--46.9 percent--are undecided in the Senate race. U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., has the support of 16.9 percent of Florida Democrats while 7.7 percent support candidates not included in the poll. U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., takes 7.1 percent followed by Lateresa Jones with 6.3 percent and attorney Pam Keith with 4.4 percent.
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
