For Florida Sen. Marco Rubio there no way that he wins the Republican nomination for the presidency without beating Donald Trump on March 15th in the Sunshine State primary. It is a winner take all state with 99 delegates up for grabs.
But heading into tonight’s big GOP debate in Houston he got some bad news from the polls. According to a poll released this afternoon Trump has a massive of Rubio in Florida and the survey was taken after Jeb Bush dropped out of the race.
The Quinnipiac University survey released at noon today showed Trump with 44 percent support, which is his highest number in the state since the 2016 campaign started. Rubio, was a very distant second with 28 percent, followed by Texas Sen.Ted Cruz at 12 percent, Ohio Gov. John Kasich with 7 percent and Dr. Ben Carson trailing the field at 4 percent.
Rubio’s key challenger for second place Sen. Cruz got some good news this afternoon. A Monmouth University survey released today shows that Cruz is leading the field in his home state with 38 percent support, followed by Trump at 23 percent and Rubio at 21 percent.
Like Rubio, Cruz needs a big win and his showdown with Trump comes less than a week away on Super Tuesday. This is where things get tricky, because if Cruz wins Texas and Rubio loses Florida then that puts the junior senator from Florida in trouble. It is clear, both Rubio and Cruz need to win their home states and change the Trump momentum, or by the end of March he will be the 2016 nominee.
