Donald Trump leads his nearest competition in Florida and Georgia by double-digits, according to two new polls released on Monday.
Neither Georgia nor Florida will cast their ballots before March 1, but public opinion in both states helps illuminate what a long primary fight could look like once the GOP turns its attention to the South.
Trump leads a new Insider Advantage poll with the support of 33 percent of Georgians surveyed, followed by Cruz at 23 percent, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 8 percent, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Ben Carson tied at 7 percent.
“Donald Trump continues to lead among every age group and across every segment of voter alignment, ranging from those who say they are very conservative to the few respondents who claim to be liberal,” said Matt Towery, Insider Advantage founder, in a statement. “Cruz continues to make progress in the numbers as well. Most noticeable is the continued plummet of Ben Carson from being a frontrunner a few months ago to receiving only 7 percent in the most recent poll.”
The Georgia poll surveyed 803 likely Republican primary voters by phone on the evening of January 17th, and has a margin of error of 3.4 percent.
Towery noted that the Georgia survey’s results appeared similar to those discovered in Insider Advantage’s new Florida poll released on Monday.
Trump leads Florida with the support of 31 percent of those surveyed, followed by Cruz at 19 percent, Bush at 13 percent, Rubio at 12 percent, and Carson at 7 percent.
“The poll shows deep support for Trump who leads both in every age group and in every category of ideology,” Towery said. “It should be noted that the two candidates from Florida are pulling a combined 25 percent of the vote which suggests that if one of them takes a solid lead of the other in earlier states, that candidate might be a significant player in the Florida primary.”
The Florida poll surveyed 838 likely Republican voters by phone on the evening of January 17th with a 3.3 percent margin of error.
The Georgia primary will take place on Super Tuesday, March 1, when voters in more than a dozen states will head to the polls. Florida’s primary will happen on March 15.
