Polls

Florida Tepid Toward Bush, Rubio runs

| Tom Jensen

Floridians aren’t very excited about the prospect of either Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio running for President, and Hillary Clinton leads the entire field of potential GOP candidates in the state.

Only 37% of Florida voters think Jeb Bush should run for President, to 52% who say they think he shouldn’t. The numbers for Marco Rubio on that front are almost identical- 35% say he should run to 51% who believe he should sit it out. The lack of enthusiasm for either Bush or Rubio making a White House bid is at least partially a function of their not being terribly popular. 45% of voters approve of the job Rubio is doing as a Senator to 40% who disapprove. Bush’s favorability numbers are similar with 45% giving him good marks to 42% with a negative opinion. Their numbers aren’t bad but they aren’t that impressive either.

Hillary Clinton has leads of 2-8 points over all of the potential GOP contenders in the state. Rubio comes the closest at just a 48/46 deficit and Bush is down by a similar margin at 47/44. Rand Paul trails by 4 at 46/42, Mike Huckabee’s down 5 at 49/44, Chris Christie and Ted Cruz each trail by 7 at 48/41 and 49/42 respectively, and Ben Carson (49/41), Rick Perry (50/42), and Scott Walker (49/41) all lag Clinton by 8 points.

Bush leads the Republican field in the state with 25% to 17% for Walker, 15% for Rubio, 12% for Carson, 7% for Huckabee, 6% for Cruz, 4% each for Christie and Paul, and 3% for Perry. Since PPP last did a Presidential poll in Florida last June, Bush has dropped by 5 points while Walker has seen his support increase by 10. Also seeing their stock decline in Florida are Paul whose support is down from 11% in June, Cruz who was previously at 9%, and Christie who was previously at 8%. Florida makes yet another state where Christie is under water with GOP primary voters- 35% rate him favorably to 40% with a negative view.

Even in his home state Bush lags a little bit with voters identifying themselves as ‘very conservative,’ trailing with 19% to Walker’s 23%. But he has a commanding lead with moderates, getting 33% to only 10% for Walker, that’s enough to help give him his overall advantage.

On the Democratic side Hillary Clinton remains dominant with 58% to 14% for Joe Biden, 10% for Elizabeth Warren, 3% for Bernie Sanders, 2% for Martin O’Malley, and 1% for Jim Webb. Clinton is polling over 50% with liberals, moderates, men, women, whites, African Americans, and voters within every age group.

Full results here

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