Poll: If Romney Fails, Republicans Prefer Rubio In 2016
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Senator Marco Rubio has been a rising star in the Republican Party for several years now, but a new Public Policy Polling poll revealed just how high his reputation has gone after a star performance at the Republican National Convention.
According to the PPP poll, if Mitt Romney loses the 2012 election to President Barack Obama, 24 percent of Florida Republicans said Senator Rubio would be their presidential choice in 2016. Rubio's numbers edged former Governor Jeb Bush's 22 percent and former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice at 12 percent.
Rubio had strong support from the tea party and amongst evangelical voters, who both supported him over Bush. The former governor drew his support in the poll from moderates and "somewhat conservative" voters.
Other candidates including Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee and Paul Ryan all polled at 10 percent among Republicans for a candidate in 2016.
On the Democratic side, there was little dissension among the ranks as 67 percent picked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the next Democratic presidential candidate. Vice-president Joe Biden came in second with 11 percent and New York governor Andrew Cuomo finished third with 8 percent.
Clinton and Biden were the only two Democratic candidates with name recognition above 50 percent in the new PPP poll.
