First Poll Shows Rubio Now Beating Bush in Florida

AUSTIN, Texas — Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is surely smiling this morning after the first poll in Florida since he announced he is running for president showed that he had received a substantial bump in his numbers. Rubio’s surge was so substantial, in fact, that he is now one point ahead of former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL), as opposed to a 12-point deficit from a poll at the beginning of the month.

The poll in question was conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research from Tuesday to Thursday, after Rubio’s announcement Monday evening in Miami. Among 400 registered Republican Florida voters, Rubio won 31 percent of the votes, just past Bush’s 30 percent, as reported by Politico’s Marc Caputo.

Seventeen percent were undecided.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who got into the race officially last month, received 8 percent, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who announced a week before Rubio, received 7 percent. Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) earned 2 percent, and the remainder of responses went to “other.” (Mason-Dixon did not poll the other potential candidates by name.) The poll’s margin of error was five percent.

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