Marco Rubio should remain in the presidential race for the good of the party and the country.

The latest polls show the young Florida senator will not win his home state’s presidential primary tomorrow. In fact, some polls show him coming in third behind Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

Never mind the polls.

With the exception of a seven-day stretch when he got into the mud with Trump, Rubio has been the race’s one aspirational candidate — the candidate who speaks of the importance of this election and the greatness of our country.

“If you elect me president, we are going to undertake a Reagan-style rebuilding of the United States of America,” he told a crowd yesterday.

Unlike Trump, Rubio has not tried to tap into people’s darkest fears. Instead, he speaks of this being our greatest century.

Trump, Rubio said yesterday, is turning America into “a nation where people hate each other.”

But conservatism, the young senator said, is not about “how angry can you get, how offensive can you be, how loud can you speak.”

Today, Rubio is the best pure Republican presidential candidate since President Reagan.

If the Never Trump movement is real, then Rubio must be part of the GOP’s strategy.

He is young and smart, a uniter with foreign policy chops that are desperately needed as we fight battles on multiple fronts at home and abroad.

“Islam hates us,” says Trump, writing off a billion people.

“We’re going to have to work with the Saudis. We’re going to have to work with the Gulf kingdoms. We’re going to have to work with the Egyptians to defeat, for example, ISIS,” Rubio said — correctly — during the last debate.

If Rubio stays in, the Republican Convention could be contested or brokered — and he could be a compromise choice.

But here is another reason Marco Rubio must stay in the race. He must stay in because he remains the best hope of his party not only this year, but going forward.

And Marco Rubio is only 44 years old.

His political career remains very bright.

Two other Republican politicians once were left for dead after losing their first presidential campaigns. Their names: Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.

John Sapochetti is co-host of “Boston Herald Drive,” heard weekdays on Boston Herald Radio. Follow him on Twitter @johnsap25.