Trump bumps favorite sons Bush and Rubio out of the lead in Florida: a fluke?
A new poll shows Donald Trump leading the GOP presidential field in the Sunshine State. It's only the second poll in Florida since Trump entered the race and could be prove to be an outlier. But it fits national trends.
Presidential contender Donald Trump speaks to the media during a press conference on Day 1 of the Women's British Open golf championship on the Turnberry golf course in Turnberry, Scotland, on Thursday.
Scott Heppell/AP
A new poll out of Florida appears to show the Trump phenomenon knocking both of the Sunshine State’s best known Republicans out of the top spot:
For the first time this year, Donald Trump tops a state poll of GOP presidential candidates in Florida.
A St. Pete Polls survey released on Wednesday shows the New York businessman with 26 percent support, with Jeb Bush in second place with 20 percent.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is in third place with 12 percent, and Marco Rubio is in fourth place with 10 percent. He’s followed by Dr. Ben Carson at 5 percent, Ted Cruz and John Kasich at 4 percent, and Rand Paul at 3 percent. Sixteen percent are unsure or are supporting another candidate not named in the survey.
This is only the second poll out of Florida since Trump entered the race. The first such poll, a Mason Dixon poll released last week, showed Bush in the lead with 28%, followed by Rubio at 16%, Walker at 13%, and Trump in fourth place at 11%. It’s possible, then, that this new poll is an outlier. At the same time, though, it is consistent with other statewide and national polling that puts Trump at the top of the field, so it shouldn’t be lightly dismissed.
Doug Mataconis appears on the Outside the Beltway blog at http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/.