A new Zogby poll shows that Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio is virtually tied with his mentor, former Governor Jeb Bush, in a potential 2016 Republican presidential primary race.

According to ABC News, Rubio told staff to move forward with presidential campaign plans, but did not say whether or not he would actually announce a presidential bid.

Rubio’s has been flirting with a possible presidential campaign for over two years. Since he first entered the Senate, Rubio has been spending tons of cash from his Reclaim America PAC on high-priced issues-based consultants, and has now brought on other veteran presidential consultants and fundraisers to help him continue to frame a now “probable” run for president in 2016.

Rubio is the clear conservative alternative to Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney, but is expected to feel considerable push-back from his once tightly knit conservative base for changing his position on immigration reform.

Since Rubio first gave his full-throated support for comprehensive immigration reform when he co-sponsored the Senate “Gang of Eight” immigration bill in 2013, the freshman senator has been slowly walking back his support for his once size-fits- all bill, to a more practical “piece meal” approach to solving the nation’s immigration problem.

Remember, Obama’s dream of legalizing millions of illegal aliens was almost realized with Rubio’s immigration bill in the Senate. The President praised the bill and pushed for its passage in the Senate, and lobbied Americans to have their respective members of the U.S. House of Representatives to pass it in that chamber of Congress.

Can Rubio regain the trust of Americans?