Bush Falls, Trump Moves Ahead in Presidential Poll

A new poll shows that former Gov. Jeb Bush is losing ground among Florida’s Republican voters in his quest to win the party’s presidential nomination.

Bush also continues to trail Sen. Marco Rubio in the GOP race, according to the poll conducted by Florida Atlantic University (FAU). The poll was conducted Sunday and Monday, following Saturday night’s debate among the three Democratic presidential candidates.

Bush came in fifth with 8.9 percent of the vote, a dropoff from FAU’s poll in September, when he finished in third at 11.3 percent, behind Rubio with 19.2 percent and Donald Trump with 31.5 percent.

In the latest FAU poll, the former governor was passed by Ben Carson, with 15 percent of the vote, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with 10 percent. Trump widened his lead by winning 36 percent, double the results of Rubio, who won 18 percent.

“Despite conjecture that Donald Trump has plateaued, his support in Florida remains very strong and could be growing,” said Kevin Wagner, an FAU political science professor and a research fellow with the university’s Business and Economics Polling Initiative, which conducted the poll.

On the Democratic side, the FAU poll projects that Clinton will trounce Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in next year’s presidential primary. Democratic voters surveyed in Florida favored the former secretary of state by a margin of 65.5 percent to 22.4 percent. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley finished a distant third with 4 percent.

But the FAU poll found that Clinton trails in head-to-head matchups with Republican candidates among Florida voters, with Carson holding the biggest margin at 9.7 points (50.2 percent to 40.5 percent). Trump leads her by 8.7 points (49.2 percent to 40.5 percent).

The polling sample for the Democratic and the Republican primary consisted of 297 and 355 likely Florida voters, respectively. For more on the Florida Atlantic University poll, please click here.