Marco Rubio Upside Down in New Poll Thanks to Independents

While he does not face the voters again until 2022, independents are turning against U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., even as he remains popular with Florida Republicans, a new poll shows.

Quinnipiac University released a poll of likely voters which shows Rubio is upside down as 44 percent of those surveyed approve of him, 47 percent disapprove of him and the rest are undecided or don’t know.

Rubio might have been routed in the Florida presidential primary in 2016 by Donald Trump but 77 percent of Republicans in the state approve of him while 15 percent disapprove of him. With Democrats, the numbers are the exact opposite as 15 percent of them approve of him and 77 percent disapprove of him. Half of voters outside the major parties–50 percent–disapprove of Rubio while 40 percent of them approve of him.

There is a gender gap when it comes to Rubio. Men approve of him 52 percent to 43 percent while 37 percent of women approve of him and 52 percent disapprove of him.

There is also something of a racial divide in Florida when it comes to Rubio. White voters are divided on Rubio with 47 percent approving of him and 44 percent disapproving of him. Three quarters–75 percent–of black voters disapprove of Rubio while 19 percent of them approve of him. Rubio does best with Hispanic voters with 57 percent approving of him and 40 percent disapprove of him.

The poll of 785 likely voters was taken from August 30 through September 3 and had a margin of error of +/- 4.3 percent.

Rubio’s political career has been a bit of a roller coaster. In 2010, he garnered national attention and became a favorite of conservatives when he caught then Gov. Charlie Crist in the GOP primary and went on to win an open U.S. Senate seat. But, after the 2012 election, many conservatives soured on Rubio due to his role in the “Gang of Eight” on immigration reform. Rubio ran for president but lost out to Trump including getting routed in Florida. Despite saying he would not run for a second term in 2016, Rubio changed his mind at the last moment and beat then U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., in the general election.