Even in his home state of Florida, Sen. Marco Rubio doesn't seem to stand a chance of defeating Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. A new Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday shows Trump with a robust 16-point lead on Rubio in the Sunshine State, with 44 percent to Rubio's 28 percent, ahead of the March 15 primary.
"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," Quinnipiac's Peter A. Brown said. "If Sen. Rubio can't win in his own home state, it is difficult to see how he can win elsewhere."
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) lags far behind Rubio and Trump in Florida with 12 percent, followed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 7 percent, and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 4 percent. The poll, conducted Feb. 21-24 among 705 likely voters in the Florida Republican primary, has a margin of error of ±3.7 percentage points.
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