News Analysis: Marco Rubio is a candidate to watch in lead up to 2016 U.S. elections: experts

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, the youngest Republican candidate to fight for the Republican Party (GOP) nomination, could be the party's main hope to beat Democrat rival Hillary Clinton, experts said.

Indeed, there has been talk in U.S. media recently that donors start to shift their funding away from early GOP favorite Jeb Bush, former Florida governor and brother and son of two former presidents. While Bush just a few months ago was considered a shoo-in for the nomination, he has been trailing in the polls and has not made an impressive show in any of the four GOP debates.

Although polls have Rubio trailing front-runners Donald Trump and Ben Carson, Rubio has fared well in recent GOP debates, especially the debate earlier this week that saw more than a dozen candidates in a verbal joust to gain the nomination.

Most importantly, experts said he not only showed a command of the issues under fire, but also was able to look and seem presidential, which is crucial in U.S. elections, in which perception matters a great deal.

"Rubio did very well. He ... stuck to his basic message that he would be tough on foreign policy and wanted less government involvement in the domestic economy. He did the best job of adding key parts of his biography into his substantive answers," Brookings Institution's senior fellow Darrell West told Xinhua.

Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, told Xinhua that he believed that Rubio "performed extremely well in the last few debates" and there is evidence the GOP is looking more seriously to him as the potential front-runner.

Rubio, 44, may well prove the toughest challenge for likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. His youth and good looks could draw some of the single women's vote away from Clinton, and the son of a bartender and a maid may be able to paint Clinton as an elitist who does not understand the struggles of lower-income Americans, experts said.

"Of the top candidates, Rubio has the best shot at beating Hillary Clinton. He is a new face and has repositioned himself as a conservative who can be pragmatic on certain issues. Those could be strong selling points in the general election," West said.

Zelizer also agreed that Rubio has the best chance of beating Clinton, compared to other GOP candidates.

Republican strategist Ford O'Connell told Xinhua that at least over the last several debates, Rubio has been "the most substantive while also looking presidential."

Indeed, until votes are cast, it will be difficult to forecast who will get the most support from voters, although Rubio is certainly attracting attention away from Jeb Bush, O'Connell said. Endit