At a campaign event Wednesday afternoon, Sen. Marco Rubio mentioned that people are spreading rumors that he was quitting the presidential race and then he promised the crowd that he will still be running and win Tuesday’s Florida GOP primary. That was just one sign that Rubio isn’t ready to give up just yet regardless of polls predicting he will lose his must win home state.
A new CNN/ORC poll found Donald Trump leads Rubio 40-24 percent in Florida:
- Donald Trump – 40%
- Marco Rubio – 24%
- Ted Cruz – 19%
- John Kasich – 5%
Sixty-six percent of respondents said Rubio should drop out if he loses Florida. According to the Miami Herald’s “Naked Politics,” the CNN poll’s relatively small sample size — only 313 Republican respondents — and an error margin of 5.5 percentage points suggests the poll relies on self-identified Republican voters. That’s a method that tends to include independents who cannot vote in Florida’s closed primary.
A new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found Trump leading Rubio 45 – 22 percent:
- Donald Trump – 45%
- Marco Rubio – 22%
- Ted Cruz – 18%
- John Kasich – 8%
The Miami Herald’s “Naked Politics,” also reports that there is finally evidence of a Rubio ground operation in Florida. It includes a phone-bank operation and fliers in the mail.
In addition, Rubio put out an email announcing a fundraising reception scheduled for the March 15 primary day:
Please join us for a Rubio for President reception featuring our outstanding Congressional endorsers on Tuesday, March 15 at 530 pm. We are thrilled to have our friends in the House and Senate helping us out while Marco is campaigning in Florida.
The Washington Post reported that a super PAC aligned with Sen. Marco Rubio is flooding Florida with an $11.3 million blitz of television commercials, online ads and mailers, aiming to help him close the gap before the state’s winner-take-all primary. According to the Post the massive rescue effort by the super PAC has been funded by seven-figure donations from hedge fund executives Paul Singer and Kenneth Griffin.
This does not sound like a candidate or campaign about to quit.
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