Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is leading Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida by 16 points in Mr. Rubio’s home state, according to a poll released Thursday.
Mr. Trump had 44 percent support among likely GOP primary voters in Florida in the Quinnipiac University poll, with Mr. Rubio at 28 percent and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas at 12 percent.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich was at 7 percent and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was at 4 percent.
“Florida is the single biggest prize of the primary season because it is the largest state to allocate its delegates on a winner-take-all basis. If Sen. Rubio can’t win in his own home state, it is difficult to see how he can win elsewhere,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
Mr. Trump led Mr. Rubio by 24 points among men and by 8 points among women, and led across all age groups, albeit by a smaller margin among older voters.
Even in polls that put him ahead of his GOP rivals, Mr. Trump also frequently tops the “no way” list as well. But Mr. Cruz led on that question, with 26 percent saying they would definitely not support the Texas Republican. Twenty-one percent said the same of Mr. Trump and 17 percent said the same of Mr. Rubio.
“Florida election law makes this contest more uncertain than earlier primaries,” Mr. Brown said. “Only registered Republicans may vote here, which raises the question of whether the flood of new voters Donald Trump seemed to bring to earlier contests will be able to participate in Florida.”
The survey of 705 likely GOP primary voters was taken from Feb. 21-24. Mr. Trump won the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries on Feb. 9 and 20, respectively, and the Nevada caucuses on Feb. 23.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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