Poll shows Trump beating Rubio handily in his Florida backyard

“The vast and overwhelming majority of Republicans do not want Donald Trump to be our nominee”, Rubio told NBC, suggesting that Trump is winning only because the other candidates are splitting up the majority of the electorate.

Trump shot back at Rubio: “I hired tens of thousands of people”. (The same should, of course, be said about Ben Carson, who lacks double-digit results in any state.) If they do not go voluntarily, the Republican National Committee should work with the networks to exclude from future debates candidates who have not finished in the top three in any Super Tuesday state.

Emboldened by the recent departure of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush from the race, Rubio has fresh momentum after two consecutive second-place finishes. Instead, he is going to focus on attacking Ted Cruz, who he hopes to force out of the race in early March, to clear the way for the Rubio/Trump face-off. “If Sen. Rubio can’t win in his own home state, it is hard to see how he can win elsewhere”, said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, in a statement.

Many have speculated he could choose Florida Governor Rick Scott, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, former rival Carly Fiorina or former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, to name a few.

Both Rubio and Cruz said that Trump had had to pay a $1 million fine for illegal immigration hiring.

“I seem to have a very good track record when they do go after me”, he said in advance of the debate.

Still, the prime-time event will be telling – will he give Cruz and Rubio any breathing room to make their case? The Florida senator repeated himself several times in a New Hampshire debate less than three weeks ago, triggering what he now calls “the New Hampshire disappointment”. It echoed Trump’s answer at a forum held by the Republican Jewish Coalition past year, but Rubio, who did not pounce then, was pouncing now.

Thursday’s debate broadcast on CNN and Telemundo is the only one of the season steered to a Spanish-speaking as well as English-speaking audience, so immigration could be an issue on which the debate turns.

Trump dismissed the criticism and insisted that he, as president, would force Mexico to pay for a 1,000-mile (1,610-km), $10 billion to $12 billion wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Republican presidential candidate, Sen.

The Quinnipiac University poll indicates a surge for Rubio, who last month hovered in third place at about 14% behind Cruz and Trump.