Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is moving strongly towards a presidential bid. But most Floridians don’t want him to run, according to a new poll.
{mosads}Just 15 percent of Florida voters want Rubio to run for president, while 57 percent prefer that he run for reelection in 2016, according to a live-caller poll conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research.
The freshman senator doesn’t fare that much better with Republicans — 19 percent want him to run for president while 68 percent prefer that he runs for reelection.
Part of that hesitance may be due to Florida’s other likely presidential favorite son candidate. Roughly equal numbers of voters want former Gov. Jeb Bush (R) to run, with 42 percent saying he should and 43 percent saying he shouldn’t. That number spikes considerably with Republicans, with 59 percent wanting him to run and 31 percent thinking he shouldn’t.
Those numbers don’t matter too much for either potential candidate, as they’ll likely need to do well in other early-primary states. But Florida is likely to be fairly early in the presidential calendar, at which point Bush’s higher popularity could be a big factor if both are still contenders for the nomination.
Rubio has to decide whether to seek the White House or run for reelection next year, and has sent signals in recent weeks that he’s leaning towards a presidential bid.
The live-caller poll of 625 registered Florida voters reached on landlines and cell phones was conducted from Jan. 27-29 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.