With U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., saying he will not seek a second term in the U.S. Senate if he runs for president, Florida Republicans could have some choices to make in 2016 and two new polls show they have some favorite candidates early on.
Public Policy Polling (PPP), a firm with connections to Democrats, released a poll on Wednesday showing former U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi running strong with Florida Republicans. After losing his congressional seat to Democrat Patrick Murphy, who is now running for his partys nomination in the Senate race, West moved to Texas to take over the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA).
West leads the field with 38 percent followed by Bondi with 25 percent. Florida CFO Jeff Atwater, who has met with the National Republican Senate Committee (NRSC) in Washington, D.C., takes 12 percent while Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera pulls 8 percent.
A majority of Florida Republicans -- 53 percent -- see West in a favorable light while only 9 percent view him as unfavorable and 38 percent are not sure. But Bondi also does well, with 53 percent seeing her as favorable while 19 percent view her as unfavorable.
Atwater is far less known, with 63 percent of Florida Republicans not sure what they think of him. A quarter of those surveyed -- 26 percent -- see Atwater as favorable while 11 percent view him as unfavorable.
Lopez-Cantera is even less known, with 76 percent of Florida Republicans not sure about the lieutenant governor who has only been on the job for a year now. Just 10 percent of Florida Republicans see him as favorable while 15 percent see him as unfavorable.
When the field was narrowed down to Atwater and Lopez-Cantera, the CFO had a large lead. In that scenario, Atwater pulled 41 percent while Lopez-Cantera took 15 percent and 43 percent were not sure.
The PPP poll of 425 registered Florida Republicans was taken March 19-23 and had a margin of error of +/- 4.8 percent.
St. Leo University released a poll showing Bondi doing well in the Senate primary if Rubio decides to run for president in 2016. Bondi takes 26 percent in the St. Leo poll followed by Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam with 14 percent and Atwater on his heels with 13 percent. Former Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford takes 6 percent while other candidates take around 8 percent and 33 percent, and voters are not sure of who they would back.
The sample of Republicans came from the St. Leo poll of 522 Floridians which was taken from March 15-21 and had a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
