Jeb gets Trumped in his own state: New poll shows Bush losing Florida to The Donald

Jeb! can't muster enough support in Florida to overtake Trump, who tops the field with 26 percent of the vote

By Sophia Tesfaye

Senior Politics Editor

Published July 29, 2015 7:27PM (EDT)

  (AP/John Locher/M. Spencer Green/Photo montage by Salon)
(AP/John Locher/M. Spencer Green/Photo montage by Salon)

Headlines exploded earlier this month after a poll found that Donald Trump had "vaulted into a virtual dead heat with Jeb Bush" nationally. Well, after Trump complained about being even tied with Bush, he's quickly moved into the lead nationally and now it looks as though megalomaniac is even beating the former governor of Florida in the Sunshine State.

A newly released poll shows that Donald Trump is the top choice for Florida Republicans, beating out both Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Trump beats Bush by six points, garnering the support of 26 percent of respondents to Bush's 20 percent, while Rubio only grabs the support of less than 10% of Floridians for fourth place behind Scott Walker. The web-based poll of 1,902 likely Republican primary voters has a 2.2 percent margin of error.

Earlier this week, another poll showed Trump leading Bush by a 2-to-1 margin in the early state of New Hampshire. "If Bush gets the nomination," Trump previously warned Republican primary voters, "Hillary will do very well against him."

Bush, still widely considered the frontrunner despite his lagging poll numbers, may not have much to worry about from the self-funded billionaire. Bush's Super PAC,  Right to Rise, raised a record-breaking $103 million in the first six month of this year, with about a dozen million-dollar contributors accounting for at least 10 percent of the haul.

This may very well be a bitter fight to the end. Brokered convention, anyone? Too soon?


By Sophia Tesfaye

Sophia Tesfaye is Salon's senior editor for news and politics, and resides in Washington, D.C. You can find her on Twitter at @SophiaTesfaye.

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2016 Elections Donald Trump Gop Jeb Bush Polls