Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has jumped 6 percentage points in a new survey of Republican voters, positioning him that much closer to GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump.
A Public Policy Polling report released Tuesday showed Rubio in third place behind Trump and Ben Carson with 13 percent support among registered Republicans. Trump’s 2-point drop since last month’s survey puts him at 27 percent support while Carson jumped to 17 percent.
According to the same survey, Rubio and Carson are also the two most popular candidates in the wide-ranging GOP field. The Florida senator, who is fourth in the Washington Examiner‘s presidential power rankings, has a net-positive favorability rating of 57-24 percent and is led only by Carson who is viewed favorably by 71 percent of Republican voters. Meanwhile, just 50 percent of respondents indicated they have a positive view of Trump — down 14 points since PPP’s survey last month.
“It seems like most polls these days you can either pick out data to say they’re good for Donald Trump or pick out data to say they’re bad for Donald Trump,” Dean Debnam, president of PPP, said in a press release.
“But [Trump’s] favorability numbers are down and he trails most of his fellow contenders in head-to-head matchups, which could be a warning of trouble down the line,” Debnam added.
In the weeks following the second Republican debate, Rubio has become a frequent target of Trump’s antics.
The senator’s campaign reported Monday that it recently received a case of “Trump Ice Natural Spring Water” in addition to other pro-Trump paraphernalia at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. — a prank Trump’s campaign later confirmed its involvement in.
Meanwhile, Rubio has said he doesn’t wish to be a part of the billionaire’s “freak show” and will steer clear of engaging in the same back-and-forth with Trump that has seemingly backfired on other candidates who’ve been willing participants.
Poll results are based on responses from more than 1,300 registered voters, including 623 Republican primary voters. It was commissioned between Oct. 1-4 and carries an overall margin of error of 2.7 percent.
