Trump Could Be Better Off Without Bush & Rubio
WASHINGTON – If Republican Donald Trump is going to beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the all-important state of Florida he will have to do it without a couple key Sunshine State political heavyweights. Former Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio, who lost to Trump in the race for the 2016 Republican nomination are not going to help him win Florida.
The Bush ground team and money men in Florida could be a huge help to Trump but that is not going to happen. Meanwhile, Rubio, is now running for re-election in a race against another GOP candidate who supports Trump not only ideologically but with cash.
Two of the most recent polls show that even if Bush and Rubio were to be actively supporting Trump their help might not be all that helpful. But looking inside those polls we can see that both Bush and Rubio have lost some of their luster.
A June poll taken by PPP’s new Florida poll finds that Rubio remains quite unpopular in the state in the wake of his unsuccessful Presidential bid, and that voters aren’t interested in seeing him run for the Senate this year.
Only 32% of voters in the state approve of the job Rubio is doing as Senator, to 54% who disapprove. So how bad are those numbers?
Well they make him one of the least popular Senators in the country. Even among Republicans his numbers are barely positive at 51/37 and he does very poorly with both independents (25/54) and Democrats (18/70). Only 39% of voters in the state want him to run for reelection this year, compared to 51% who say he should sit it out.
Rubio faces a Trump supporter and money man, billionaire Carlos Beruff in the Republican primary. That could put Rubio in direct battle with the GOP presumptive nominee.
Bush who has a strong ground game in the state and a money machine that raised $100-million-dollar war chest for his unsuccessful run for the nomination against Trump. Former Gov. Bush has been clear that he and his supporters are not interested doing anything to help Trump win in Florida.
Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who is a strong supporter of Trump, and a possible vice presidential candidate is not popular in the state either. Scott at best has approval levels in all polls in 2016 hovers in the low 40 percent area.
This might be a rare situation where Trump might be better off without any help from any of Florida’s top political leaders.
President Barack Obama breaks even in the poll with 46 percent of Florida voters approving of him and the same percentage disapproving of him.
