Following his announcement, Sen. Marco Rubio is now tied with Jeb Bush in Florida, according to a new survey.
The Republican Florida senator, who launched his presidential campaign in Miami Monday night, garnered 31 percent of support from GOP voters, giving him the edge over his state’s former governor, who got 30 percent, according to a Mason-Dixon Polling and Research survey shared only with Politico.
“I think Rubio’s rollout was pretty good and he probably got a bump out of it,” J. Bradford Coker, Mason-Dixon’s pollster, said. “A good rollout is like a primary win: you get about three days of good media coverage and a little lift in the polls.”
The survey of 400 Floridian GOP voters began Monday after Rubio’s announcement and concluded Thursday.
Since his announcement from Miami’s Freedom Tower, Rubio has been all over the media discussing his White House bid. In a matter of one day, he raised $1.25 million.
A margin of error of five percentage points shows just how close the race between the two would be in their home state — which is also considered a presidential election swing state. The Mason-Dixon survey is also the first to find Rubio either tied with or beating Bush.
A Quinnipiac University survey released April 2 — the last major Florida poll regarding the GOP presidential primary — found Bush polling at 24 percent and Rubio at 12 percent. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who had just two percent in the Mason-Dixon survey, garnered 15 percent.
Florida’s winner-take-all primary is March 15.
