Rep. David Jolly (R) announced last Friday that he was dropping out of his contentious Republican senatorial primary race to pursue a re-election bid to his now-Democratic-leaning congressional seat.

A recent Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey has Crist leading Jolly by a couple of percentage points in a head-to-head match-up, but another poll conducted by McLaughlin & Associates (Jolly’s pollster), has Jolly trouncing Crist 50-38 with 12 percent of those polled as being undecided.

Jolly’s 12-point lead is fueled by his relative popularity, with 46 percent of voters viewing him favorably and 13 percent unfavorably, making his net favorable rating +33. Crist’s net favorability rating: -4 (37 percent favorable; 41 percent unfavorable).

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Jolly is winning Republicans over Crist 88-6 percent, according to the poll. But Crist isn’t doing as well with Democrats, 71 percent of whom support him while 18 percent back Jolly. Independents favor Jolly over Crist 45-31 percent, but 24 percent are undecided.

The poll was composed of 41 percent Democrats, 38 percent Republicans and 19 percent independent voters. By registration, about 38 percent of the district’s voters are Democrats, 33 percent are Republicans and about 29 percent belong to neither major party.

Expect future polls conducted in this congressional district to tighten up. Jolly is going to have to show significant and sustainable voter support if he is going to receive the support from the national Republican establishment, who he  threw under the bus during his senate run.-Source

Another obstacle Jolly will face is his past and current support (lack of) for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump.

It is safe to say that Jolly really doesn’t like Trump, but will need his help if he is going to beat Charlie Crist.

Because Trump will pull many more Independents and Democrats away from Hillary Clinton than any other Republican presidential candidate would have, Jolly is going to have to make nice with “The Donald,” if he wants to have a better chance at taking down Crist.

But all of this said, Jolly is no slouch. Team Jolly is salivating over the fact that they will now have the opportunity to pounce on Charlie Crist much like Senator Rubio did in 2010, and Governor Rick Scott did in 2014, when Crist ran against him for governor.

Make ready the popcorn!