Part-time Palm Beach billionaire and 2016 Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump continues to crush his opponents in Florida polling. A Florida Atlantic University Business and Economic Polling Initiative poll out Saturday shows Trump leading his fellow Republican candidates, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, by a whopping 23 points. Trump carries 44 percent in the poll, followed by Rubio and Cruz’s 21 percent, with Ohio Gov. John Kasich pulling only nine percent, and five percent of Florida voters still undecided.
JUST OUT: New FAU Florida poll:
Trump: 44% (+23)
Rubio: 21%
Cruz: 21%
Kasich: 9% pic.twitter.com/aXDDeEzMnX— WPTV (@WPTV) March 12, 2016
“Florida Republican voters are dissatisfied with government, looking for an outsider and backing Donald Trump by a large margin,” FAU professor Dr. Kevin Wagner said. “The early voting pattern is consistent with the overall poll with Donald Trump well ahead of both Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. That is going to make it difficult to catch Mr. Trump on Election Day.”
The poll was conducted between March 8 and March 11, and consisted of 852 likely Florida Republican voters, with a +/-3.3 percent margin of error at a 95 percent confidence level.
Trump is down only four points since the last Florida FAU poll was conducted in January where he pulled in a stunning 48 percent. The sitting junior senator from the state, Marco Rubio, has gained 10 points since that time, with a number of candidates dropping out of the race, including West Palm Beach resident Ben Carson who has since endorsed Trump, and the former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush also suspending his campaign.
It is widely believed Donald Trump could secure the Republican nomination on Tuesday night with victories in Florida and Ohio. Marco Rubio’s campaign, however, is showing no sign of calling it quits after Tuesday, with public events scheduled in Utah and California next Wednesday and Thursday.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton continues her strong lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders with a 28-point lead in the new FAU poll. She pulls in 59 percent versus 31 percent from Sanders. While Clinton’s lead is comfortable, the race has tightened in the FAU poll since November and September when Clinton led by 44 points.
JUST OUT: Florida Atlantic poll:@HillaryClinton: 59% (-3 since Jan) @BernieSanders: 31% (+5) pic.twitter.com/U7RBrBd0uJ
— WPTV (@WPTV) March 12, 2016
"Bernie Sanders has closed some of the distance between himself and Hillary Clinton, but it is not enough,” Wagner said of the Democratic contest in Florida. “While he has improved in each of our polls, it looks like he is running out of time. Bernie Sanders has a large lead with younger voters, but Hillary Clinton continues to dominate with minority voters.”
A New NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll of Florida released Sunday shows a near identical consistency with the FAU poll released Saturday:
New NBC/WSJ/Marist poll of Florida, almost identical to FAU poll released Saturday:
Trump - 43%
Rubio - 22
Cruz - 21
Kasich - 9— Joshua Chavers (@JoshuaChavers) March 13, 2016