Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Support for Bush, Rubio slides in poll of Florida voters
The latest survey of Florida voters shows the presidential race has become scrambled over the summer in the Sunshine State, mirroring the national upheaval among the leading Democratic and Republican contenders.
Veteran Republican politicians Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio have fallen way behind outsiders Donald Trump and Ben Carson.
As the top Republican nationally, Trump will be center stage in Wednesday night’s presidential candidates’ debate on CNN. He’ll be flanked by national No. 2 Carson to his right and No. 3 Bush to his left.
The Gravis Marketing poll of Florida voters released Monday also show Democrat Hillary Clinton has slipped, with Joe Biden showing lots of support. On the Republican side: Trump, the businessman and parttime Palm Beach resident, in first place with 33.6 percent.
Carson, the retired neurosurgeon
who lives in West Palm Beach, in second with 22.4 percent.
Bush, the former Florida governor, in third with 15.2 percent. In Gravis’ last survey, 12 weeks ago, Bush was in first place in Florida, with 27.5 percent.
Marco Rubio, the U.S. senator from Florida, was in sixth place, with 5.4 percent. In the Gravis survey conducted in June, Rubio was in second place with 23 percent.
Neither Trump nor Carson was listed in the previous Gravis poll. On the Democratic side: Clinton, the former secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady, was in first place, with 41.6 percent. In the June survey, she was also in first place, but support was much higher at 64.8 percent.
Biden, the vice president who is considering entering the presidential race, is in second place in the newest survey, with 21.4 percent. He wasn’t listed in the June survey.
Bernie Sanders, the U.S. senator from Vermont, was at 12.5 percent support among Floridians in the new survey. In June, Sanders was at 20.5 percent.
Gravis said it surveyed 891 Florida Republicans from Sept. 5-11, producing a poll with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Gravis said the survey of 693 Democrats had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Gravis said it polled using automatic calls, known as robo-calls, which aren’t considered the most reliable by many polling professionals. To improve the accuracy, Gravis said it also used responses from cellphone users.