More New Florida, Illinois and Ohio polls – Rubio fading and Cruz Emerging as the Trump Alternative

New CBS News 2016 Battleground Tracker polls in Florida, Illinois and Ohio show Sen. Marco Rubio fading and Sen. Ted Cruz emerging as the only alternative Donald Trump. The polls, conducted by the online polling group YouGov, show Trump walking away with Florida as Cruz overtakes Rubio in second place. In Illinois, Cruz is within striking distance of catching Trump. And in Ohio it may become a three-way race with Trump and John Kasich tied and Cruz only six points behind.

Florida:

Donald Trump – 44%

Ted Cruz – 24%

Marco Rubio – 21%

Ted Cruz – 21%

John Kasich – 9%

The Margin of error for the new CBS News 2016 Battleground Tracker Florida poll is plus or minus 4.8 percent. These results are similar to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist Polls reported Sunday, except for Cruz taking over second place from Rubio. The results are also consistent with the Real Clear Politics Average for the Florida Republican Presidential Primary, which shows Trump leading by 18.8 points.

Illinois:

Donald Trump – 38%

Ted Cruz – 34%

John Kasich – 16%

Marco Rubio -11%

The Margin of error for the new CBS News 2016 Battleground Tracker Illinois poll is plus or minus 4.4 percent. These results show Trump and Cruz with more support for Cruz and Trump and less support for Kasich and Rubio than the NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist Polls reported Sunday. The results diverge from the Real Clear Politics Average for the Illinois Republican Presidential Primary, which shows Trump leading by 8.7% points.

Ohio:

John Kasich – 33%

Donald Trump – 33%

Ted Cruz – 27%

Marco Rubio – 5%

The Margin of error for the new CBS News 2016 Battleground Tracker Ohio poll is plus or minus 4.4 percent. These results show Cruz with more support, Kasich with less support and Trump and Rubio about the same as the NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist Polls reported Sunday. These results also diverge from the Real Clear Politics Average for the Ohio Republican Presidential Primary, which shows Kasich leading by 2.7% points.

The polls have been so off you should take them with a huge grain of salt. But consider that Trump has canceled a rally in Florida scheduled for Monday to campaign in Ohio. And Cruz swept into Ohio Sunday night trying to make Ohio a three-person race.