WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton would lead Florida politicians Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio among Sunshine State voters in the next presidential election, according to a new survey from the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, which called her "a force to contend with" in 2016.
Clinton, who enjoys wide support nationally, took 49 percent to former Republican Gov. Bush's 44 percent, and 50 percent to Republican Sen. Rubio's 46 percent in the poll. Voters were asked to consider potential matchups in the 2016 presidential race.
The secretary of state was also the overwhelming favorite in a hypothetical Democratic presidential primary in Florida, taking 65 percent in a field of nine possible candidates. She was trailed, distantly, by Vice President Joe Biden, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Clinton easily won Florida's Democratic presidential primary in 2008, but she faced little opposition because the state had been stripped of convention delegates.
Florida Republicans favored their state's politicians over other potential GOP nominees, giving Rubio 31 percent and Bush 26 percent of the vote in a hypothetical primary field that also included New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan. About half of Republicans said that Bush should run for president, and 62 percent that Rubio should run.
The PPP poll surveyed 501 Florida voters between Jan. 11 and Jan. 13 using automated phone interviews and has a margin of error of 4.4 percent. The poll included oversamples of 401 Democratic voters and 436 Republican voters, with margins of error of 4.9 and 4.7 percent, respectively.
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