If it came down to Trump vs. Rubio?

[President Johnson]

Who would make it in this case?

[dudeabides]

The establishment, non-tea party conservatives, moderates, and right-leaning independents would all back Marco Rubio. Even some libertarians would back Rubio because of Trump's stance for universal health care and against property rights, though certainly most libertarians take issue with Rubio's foreign policy. If it were them nationwide in a primary, my guess is Marco Rubio would win 57%-42%.

[bobloblaw]

Rubio would likely win

[Maxwell]

Trump has a ceiling of about 45%, maybe 40% against Rubio, thus I believe Rubio would probably defeat him.

[CapoteMonster]

It would be pretty dicey. Trumps's a more talented politician than Rubio but the GOP establishment would throw everything they have at Trump.

[Angel of Death]

Polls have Trump losing in head-to-head contests against Rubio. In fact, Trump only wins against Bush in those. That's exactly why I would like to see some Carson-vs-Rubio polls.

[Mr. Morden]

Polls have Trump losing in head-to-head contests against Rubio. In fact, Trump only wins against Bush in those. That's exactly why I would like to see some Carson-vs-Rubio polls.

Forget the one-on-one matchups.  There's no reason to believe that the GOP race is necessarily going to narrow down to just two candidates.  I'd be more interested in seeing 3- and 4-way matchups.  E.g., someone should poll test Carson vs. Cruz vs. Rubio vs. Trump, or something like that.  I think Reuters has tested 3-way matchups, but I'd like to see it done by a good pollster.

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Rubio, but it'd never happen.

Once the primary reduces to one-on-one, it's the candidate who has all but wrapped up the nomination vs. the last holdout opponent who picks up all the votes of people who hate the frontrunner. I couldn't see a non-frontrunning Trump or Rubio staying in the race that long.

[Drew]

Rubio.  Trump is ultimately too much of an outsider, and Rubio doesn't seem to alienate either the establishment or tea party wings of the GOP.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Immigration might win it for Trump. He's been much more consistently anti-immigrant than Rubio. Immigration is a big deal in Republican primaries. Romney was actually pretty anti-immigrant, which could be why the establishment won last time.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

It won't get down to two by the voting, but I do expect it'll be essentially down to Rubio vs. Trump/Carson/Cruz, all of whom are fighting for the same slot. And Paul, who has his own limited field to himself.