Donald Trump is earning double the support of his closest opponent, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, in Rubio’s home state, according to a poll released Wednesday.
Florida Atlantic University’s latest survey of Republican primary voters in the Sunshine State finds Trump pulling 36 percent support while Rubio remains a distant second at 18 percent. Combined, the two Republican hopefuls earn nearly 55 percent of GOP voters’ support in Florida.
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The survey of more than 350 Florida Republicans was conducted over the two days immediately following the terror attacks in Paris, France. Trump, who 20 percent of U.S. voters in a Reuters poll released Tuesday said they trust most to tackle terrorism, has jumped 4.4 percentage points since FAU last surveyed voters in September.
Behind Rubio and Trump is retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who, like Trump, has also seen an uptick since September. Carson now stands in third place at 14.5 percent support.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who previously held the No. 3 spot, has dropped nearly three percentage points, placing him in fifth place behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. The former governor earns 8.9 percent support to Cruz’s 10 percent.
The only other candidate polling above 4 percent is Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who’s risen slightly since September and now earns 4.1 percent support. Meanwhile, businesswoman Carly Fiorina has seen a sharp decline in the percentage of voters backing her candidacy; she’s dropped from 8.3 percent to just 2.4 percent in two months.
In head-to-head matchups with presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state is edged by each of the top five Republican hopefuls.
Carson leads Clinton by nearly 10 percentage points, 50.2-40.5 percent, while Rubio leads Clinton 50.2-43 percent, and Trump carries an 8.7 percent lead over the former first lady. Cruz and Bush are much closer to Clinton in hypothetical matchups. Bush leads her by 4.6 percent while Cruz is just three points ahead of her and within the survey’s 3.3 percent overall margin of error.
Trump is fourth in the Washington Examiner‘s latest presidential power rankings.
