Sen. Marco Rubio is accusing rival GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump of flip-flopping on amnesty – and contends the real estate millionaire's dominating numbers in a new Florida poll aren't tied to his new hard-line on immigration.
In his best showing yet in the Sunshine State, the
Bay News 9/News 13/Florida Decides poll released this week shows Trump with 37 percent support.
Retired pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson is in second, with 17 percent support and Rubio comes in at 16 percent. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has 10 percent in the survey and Jeb Bush trails in fifth place with 7 percent.
No one else gots more than 3 percent.
In a comment to
Fox News' America's Newsroom on Wednesday, Rubio dismissed Trump's showing as reflective of his plan to boot out millions of illegal immigrants and build a wall across the nation's southern border.
"Well first of all, Donald was a supporter of amnesty and the DREAM Act, he changed his position on those issues just to run for president," Rubio said,
Politico reports."But beyond it, I don't think that's the issue that's driving it. Florida voters are following the national trends and watching the news cycle. I'm confident that as we get closer to a real election in Florida, those numbers are going to change. And they will."
The
attacks on Rubio have been building – including about his past financial history – as he continues to improve his national polls' ratings; in a national averaging by
Real Clear Politics, Rubio comes in at third place, with 11 percent support, behind Carson, with 24.8 percent and Trump, at 24.6 percent.
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