Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio has moved into second place among GOP voters in Florida, edging his past mentor and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
According to a Florida Atlantic University poll released Wednesday, Rubio has surged to 19.2 percent support in his home state while Bush staggers behind at 11.3 percent. Both Florida Republicans continue to trail GOP front-runner Donald Trump, who 31.5 percent of respondents would vote for if the election were held today. 	
“Marco Rubio being that far ahead of Jeb Bush is surprising,” Kevin Wagner, an associate professor of political science at FAU, told the Sun Sentinel Tuesday.
Many say Rubio, who jumped to third place in this week’s Washington Examiner presidential power rankings, delivered a promising performance in the second Republican debate. The junior senator from Florida has seen a bump in national polls in the days since and secured a handful of top staffers from Scott Walker’s presidential campaign shortly after the Wisconsin governor announced his departure from the race Monday.
The former Florida House speaker has also seen a rise in his favorability ratings among voters in his home state. More than half of GOP voters in the Sunshine State view Rubio favorably, giving him a net-positive rating of 50.9 to 39.9 percent. Meanwhile, more voters view their former governor, Bush, unfavorably than favorably (46.8-42.5).
However, both Republican hopefuls fare significantly better than Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. The former secretary of state’s unfavorability rating is 13 points higher than her favorability rating among Florida voters in the same poll.
Survey results also show Clinton losing in general election matchups with several Republican candidates. Only Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee would lose to the former first lady if the election were held today.
FAU conducted its survey in three days following the second GOP debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. Results are based on responses from more than 800 registered voters in Florida and contain a margin of error of 3.4 percent.
