Billionaire Donald Trump is poised to beat Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) in the latter’s home state by eight percentage points, according to a Monmouth poll released Monday.
The poll shows support for Trump at 38 percent in the Sunshine State, while Rubio stood at 30 percent. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) stood at 17 percent and Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) was at 10 percent. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who dropped out while the poll was in the field, took one percent.
Although there is no previous Monmouth polling in Florida, these results are consistent with other polling suggesting that Rubio is headed toward a second-place finish in his home state. Previously, polls showed Rubio going toe-to-toe with or trailing behind Cruz. Trump has led in Florida, and in national polls, in virtually all polling since the fall.
TPM’s PollTracker Average shows Trump leading in the state at 40.3 percent, followed by Rubio at 31.1 percent, Cruz at 13.1 percent, Kasich at 10.3 percent and Ben Carson at 4.1 percent.
The Monmouth poll was carried out from March 3-6. Pollsters surveyed 403 people likely to vote in the Florida Republican primary by live phone interview, with a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.
Of course, the Rubot spin on this is, “Rubio cuts Trump lead to single digits.”…