A new poll of Florida voters shows a tight race between two favorite sons in the Republican presidential primary while former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to rout her Democratic opposition.
Gravis Marketing released a poll on Thursday afternoon showing former Gov. Jeb Bush, R-Fla., remains ahead of the rest of the Republican pack in the Sunshine State. Bush takes 28 percent of Republicans while U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., places second with 23 percent. U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wis., tie for third with 9 percent each. Businesswoman Carly Fiorina takes 6 percent while U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., pull 5 percent apiece. Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La., takes 2 percent while U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., take less than 1 percent each.
The poll left out a number of prominent candidates in the increasingly crowded Republican field, including Dr. Ben Carson, Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, former Gov. George Pataki, R-N.Y., former Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas, and businessman Donald Trump.
If the contest comes down to Bush and Rubio, Florida Republicans are very divided. Rubio leads that scenario with 39.4 percent while Bush takes 38.7 percent.
On the Democratic side, Clinton leads with 65 percent while U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., places second with 21 percent. Former Gov. Martin O’Malley, D-Md., and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is not expected to enter the race, take 2 percent each. Former U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., who announced he was running on Thursday, pulls 1 percent while former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chaffee, D-R.I.., lags with less than 1 percent.
The poll of 729 Florida Republicans was taken from June 16-20 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent. The poll of 881 Florida Democrats was taken during the same period and had the same margin of error.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
