Young, telegenic and the proud son of Cuban immigrants, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has long been believed by many GOP leaders to be the ideal candidate to beat the Democrats in the 2016 presidential election. This assessment fueled a string of endorsements for Rubio in previous weeks.
But on Super Tuesday, Rubio placed first in only one state (Minnesota) and was the clear runner-up in just one other (Virginia). To understand why he had such a rough night, we took an in-depth look at data from NBC News Exit Polls conducted with Republican primary voters throughout the nation on Tuesday. CONT.
Patrick J. Egan (NYU), NBC News