Polls: Donald Trump leads the GOP field in Michigan, Florida
Donald Trump is leading the Republican presidential field in Michigan and Florida, according to two polls released Monday by Monmouth University.
The poll focused on Florida, which holds its primary next Tuesday, found 38 percent of the state's GOP primary voters back Trump, while 30 percent back their GOP senator, Marco Rubio.
Seventeen percent said they support Ted Cruz and 10 percent said they support John Kasich, who hopes to win his home state of Ohio on March 15.
According to the survey, Rubio leads Trump 48 percent to 23 percent among the voters who have already cast ballots during the early voting period. Trump, however, leads Rubio 42 percent to 26 percent among those who haven't voted yet.
If Trump wins the nomination, three-quarters of Republican voters in the Sunshine State said they would support him in a general election match-up against Hillary Clinton. Ten percent, on the other hand, said they would vote for Clinton, 2 percent said they would support a third-party bid, 7 percent said they would sit out the election and 6 percent said they are unsure what they would do if Trump is their nominee.
In Michigan, which holds its primary on Tuesday this week, Trump is also leading the GOP pack by 13 percentage points. Thirty-six percent said they would back Trump, 23 percent back Cruz, 21 percent support Kasich and 13 percent said they'd back Rubio.
Candidates must reach a 15-percent threshold in Michigan in order to gain at-large delegates.
If Trump wins the nomination, 71 percent said they would vote for him against Clinton in November. Nine percent said they would vote for Clinton, 4 percent would vote for a third-party bid, 9 percent wouldn't vote at all and 7 percent are unsure.
In the Democratic race, 55 percent of Michigan's Democratic primary voters said they support Clinton while 42 percent said they back Sanders.
More than 60 percent said the issue of drinking water quality is very important to their vote, given the water crisis that has plagued the city of Flint since 2014. Nearly a quarter said it's somewhat important.
A CBS News battleground tracker poll released Sunday had similar results. Trump has a 15-percentage-point lead over Cruz in Michigan and Clinton has an 11-percentage-point lead over Sanders in the state.
The Florida poll surveyed 403 GOP voters between March 3 and 6 with a 4.9 percentage point margin of error. The Michigan poll surveyed 402 Republicans during that same time frame with a 4.9 percentage point margin of error and 302 Democrats with a 5.6 percentage point margin of error.
