Businessman and GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump has a 23-point lead in Florida and a 6-point edge in Ohio as he looks to build on his front-runner status with wins in the March 15 winner-take-all states, according to polling released Wednesday.
Mr. Trump was at 45 percent support among likely GOP primary voters in Florida in the Quinnipiac University poll, compared to 22 percent for native son Sen. Marco Rubio. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was at 18 percent and Ohio Gov. John Kasich was at 8 percent.
In Ohio, Mr. Trump led Mr. Kasich by a 38 percent to 32 percent margin, with Mr. Cruz at 16 percent and Mr. Rubio at 9 percent.
“The effort within the Republican Party to stop Donald Trump from winning the presidential nomination appears unlikely to stop him from taking Florida’s delegate-rich winner-take-all primary. But that effort might have a better chance of success in Ohio where Gov. John Kasich is giving ’The Donald’ a tougher run for his money,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
Separate polling from CNN/ORC released Wednesday showed Mr. Trump with a 16-point edge over Mr. Rubio in Florida and a 6-point lead over Mr. Kasich in Ohio.
“With Florida the largest state awarding delegates on a winner-take-all basis, a Trump win would increase even more his chances of winning the nomination,” Mr. Brown said. “Between the two March 15 battlegrounds, 165 of the 1,237 delegates needed for the nomination are available.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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