Despite an underwhelming Super Tuesday, Marco Rubio says he'll defeat 'conman' Donald Trump

Florida Senator Marco Rubio won only one state, Minnesota, in the keenly contested Super Tuesday polls on 1 March. While he registered 36.8 per cent of the votes in Minnesota, he holds the third place in most of the other states that have been tallied.

Addressing his supporters in Florida, Rubio claimed that his numbers were going up and that Trump's numbers were going down. He claimed that he had managed to unmask the Republican frontrunner as being a "conman" and said that he was confident Florida would put Trump in his place.

Here's a look at his performance so far:

Minnesota - 36.8 per cent

Texas - 17 per cent

Georgia - 23 per cent

Massachusetts - 18 per cent

Vermont - 19 per cent

Oklahoma - 20 per cent

Rubio's only saving grace is Virginia, where he managed to garner 31 per cent of the votes - close on the heels of Tump, who won with 34.8 per cent.

"The American dream is not dead. It is just in trouble after 8 years under Barack Obama. But we don't have to remain on this road. We will not just save the dream we will expand it to reach more people than ever," said Rubio, in a speech that was mostly devoted to attacking Trump.

Here are excerpts from his speech:

"We began to unmask the true nature of the Republican frontrunner. Five days ago we began to explain to the people that Donald Trump is a con artist. And in just 5 days we've seen the impact it is having all across the country".

"He loves to talk about polls but his numbers are coming down. And ours are going up. Two weeks from tonight, right here in Florida, we are going to send a message loud and clear".

"The post of the President of the United States will never be held by a con artist".

"I'm in this race to stop Trump. If you're angry with Washington, I understand," he said. "But Donald Trump has been part of the Washington corruption for 40 years."