U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Miami, is Florida’s most popular politician, according to the latest Public Policy Polling release.

At least, he’s more popular than python hunter U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Orlando, or Gov. Rick Scott.

“Bill Nelson begins his third term in the Senate at a 43-40 spread, decent numbers but also ones that suggest his overwhelming victory in November might have had a lot to do with voters having a pretty dim view of his opponent, Connie Mack IV,” PPP stated.

“Marco Rubio continues to be the state's most popular politician with a 49-36 approval spread, outdistancing both Nelson and Governor Rick Scott.”

Numbers from the left-leaning PPP, also put Rubio 13 percentage points ahead of former Gov. Jeb Bush by Sunshine Staters who should run for president in 2016.

“Rubio's lead is based on his strength among voters describing themselves as 'very conservative,'” PPP states.

Rubio, with 26 percent, was also the top choice in any presidential primary when matched against Bush, former governor Mike Huckabee, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., Texas Gov. Rick Perry and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez.

“One thing noteworthy in the cross-tabs related to Christie is that he's the choice of just 1 percent of voters describing themselves as 'very conservative,' putting him in last place among everyone we polled,” the polling found.

In that contest, Bush had 11 percent and nobody else was in double digits.

However, the polling also found former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ahead of Rubio or former Gov. Jeb Bush in a hypothetical presidential match-up. Clinton was ahead of Rubio by 4 percentage points and Bush by 5.

The poll found Clinton had the edge because of an appeal among moderates.

The telephone poll was conducted among 510 Florida voters -- 401 usual Democratic primary voters and 436 Republican primary voters -- between Jan. 11 and 13. The overall margin of error was 4.4 percent.



Reach Jim Turner at jturner@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 215-9889.