Big donors to Marco Rubio's presidential campaign say the Florida senator will drop out before his home state votes on Tuesday if internal polls don't show an improvement before then, Fox Business Network reports.
"What I'm hearing from his money men here in New York City, and this could change, this is early … They're saying barring some better polling… he will likely suspend before Florida, reporter Charles Gasparino said Wednesday on
"Varney & Co."
"The feeling is despair," Gasparino said. "We talk about paths to victory. This is what his guys are saying; they don't see a path to victory, and they think it's better to get out sooner rather than later."
If things don't drastically improve, donors are urging Rubio to back out and endorse either Texas Sen. Ted Cruz or Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who they believe has a better chance of defeating front-runner Donald Trump, Gasparino writes on
FoxBusiness.com.
Fox Business was the second news organization in two days to report that there is talk in the Rubio camp of him dropping out ahead of Florida, and for the second time his press spokesman Alex Conant denied there was any truth to it.
But Gasparino said that while Rubio's campaign staff wants him to stay in, it is the donors who are considering telling him to get out.
"This is not coming from the campaign," he told host Stuart Varney. "This is coming from the guys that give the campaign its lifeblood."
He also said the situation is not final, and Rubio could decide to stay in at least until Florida votes if he sees an improvement in his campaign's internal polling.
That glimmer of light could come from a series of anti-Trump ads set to air over the next few days.
Still, one donor told Fox Business, "Nothing has worked against Trump so far. And Marco has only a small window to stop him from being the nominee."
CNN on Tuesday
issued a similar report, saying some of Rubio's advisers were urging him to drop out before Florida, while others wanted him to stay in.
Conant left his office in Washington, D.C., to appear on air in CNN's studios to deny that report, calling it "utter nonsense," and repeatedly urging host Wolf Blitzer to stop repeating it.
On Monday, The Washington Post reported
Rubio's campaign was in "meltdown," following losses on Saturday.
Gasparino writes that the donors he talked to said Rubio appears to listen to their arguments, and if he doesn't drop out before Florida, he will do so if he loses there. Florida is a winner-take-all state with 99 delegates going to the first-place finisher.
Public polls show Trump leading Rubio in Florida by double digits, and Rubio's internal polls show him currently losing to Trump in Florida by a wide margin as well, Gasparino said.
Should Rubio stay in and get beaten, it could hurt his future political prospects worse than dropping out would, one source told Gasparino. They fear a Trump nomination could put Hillary Clinton in the White House and hurt Republicans down-ticket.
"If Trump wins and the GOP gets trounced, possibly even losing the Senate, Marco will then take the fall," Gasparino quoted a GOP operative.
Rubio is still scheduled to appear in CNN's Republican debate in Miami on Thursday night.
Related Stories: