Poll: Sen. Marco Rubio Favored By Florida Republicans

Saint Leo, FL — U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio will have strong Republican support for a re-election bid should the failed presidential candidate make an attempt to retain his current seat.

His support, in fact, stands at 52 percent among likely Florida Republican voters, according to a poll released Friday by the Saint Leo Polling Institute. That massive percentage resulted when respondents in the university’s poll were asked who they were most likely to vote for among the declared Republican candidates with Rubio included in the mix.

When Rubio was included among those declared, not one of the official candidates for his Senate seat even received 5 percent support, the poll found. Ron DeSantis was the closest second at 4.6 percent.

When Rubio was not included in the mix, Carlos Beruff, DeSantis and David Jolly tied at 8.1 percent each. A total of 56.6 percent of likely Republican voters said they were undecided.

See also:

• U.S. Rep. David Jolly Drops Out of Senate Race
• Marco Rubio Running For Re-Election?

“These results clearly show that Marco Rubio starts in a strong position in his expected bid to win the GOP nomination,” said Frank Orlando, political scientist and director of the Saint Leo University Polling Institute. “Rubio’s name recognition is so much stronger than that of his competitors that they'd need to work extremely hard to close that gap.”

The poll’s results were compiled as Pinellas County’s U.S. Rep. David Jolly pulled his name out of the running for Rubio’s senate seat. The results also come as Rubio has hinted that he might seek re-election following his failed presidential bid.

Saint Leo’s poll was conducted online involving 500 adult Floridians between June 10-16.

On the Democrat side, voters indicated a “wide open” race, Orlando said.

Among likely Florida Democratic voters, Patrick Murphy had the lead at 15.7 percent. Alan Grayson was a closed second at 13.5 percent. A total of 61.1 likely Democratic voters said they were undecided.

For more information about the Saint Leo Polling Institute, visit its online at http://polls.saintleo.edu.

Photo from Marco Rubio's Facebook page