There's a totally bizarre conspiracy theory about Ted Cruz ... and a surprising number of people believe it

Could Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz be an unidentified serial killer? Most likely not, but that has not stopped people from speculating about it.

A wild conspiracy theory that Ted Cruz could be the Zodiac Killer, a serial killer who murdered victims in the 1960s and '70s, appears to have first surfaced on Twitter in 2013.

Now that Cruz has been catapulted into the national spotlight as a serious contender for Republican nomination in the 2016 election, the wild theory has picked up steam and is even trending on Twitter again.

Unfortunately for those who love a good conspiracy theory, a quick look at the facts proves that this is pretty much impossible. Although never caught, the Zodiac Killer committed his murders in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Ted Cruz was born in Canada in 1970.

The bizarre theory reached a new level of attention this week when Public Policy Polling, a left-leaning national political polling company, decided to include a question about it in their latest poll of Florida voters.

The findings of the poll reveal that many Floridians can't rule out the idea that Cruz could be a serial killer in disguise. PPP found that 38 percent of Florida voters polled think it's possible that Cruz is the Zodiac Killer -- with 28 percent saying they are not sure about the question and 10 percent saying that he definitely is. That leaves 62 percent who confidently believe Cruz is not the killer.

See Cruz on the campaign trail:

"Cruz is exonerated from being a toddler serial killer by 62 percent of the Sunshine State populace," Tom Jensen of PPP wrote of the findings.

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