A new poll shows some of the leading Republican candidates running to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in 2016 remain unknown to GOP voters across the Sunshine State.
Democratic-pollster Public Policy Polling (PPP) released a survey which shows three of the top candidates remain unknown to Republicans.
More than half of those surveyed -- 52 percent -- are undecided on who to back in next year’s Senate primary. U.S. Rep. David Jolly, R-Fla., takes 18 percent followed by U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., with 15 percent. Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera pulls 14 percent.
Businessman and veteran Todd Wilcox, who is running in the Republican primary, was not included in the poll. Neither was former Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum who has left the door open to running for the Senate a third time.
None of the candidates are well known and Jolly is the only one who is not upside down. More than a fifth -- 21 percent -- of Florida Republicans see Jolly as favorable while 16 percent view him in an unfavorable light and the rest aren’t sure about him. DeSantis is upside down with 15 percent seeing him as favorable, 22 percent unfavorable while the rest aren’t sure. Despite holding statewide office, Lopez-Cantera is less known with 22 percent seeing him as unfavorable, 9 percent seeing him as favorable while the rest aren’t sure.
The poll of 377 Florida Republicans was taken from Sept. 11 through Sept. 13 and had a margin of error of +/- 5.1 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
