With only 11 days to go until Election Day, Hillary Clinton’s lead over Donald Trump continues to grow in Florida according to a poll released Friday.
The Saint Leo University Polling Institute survey found Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton with a double-digit lead nationally and in Florida, the most important swing state in the nation.
Over half of Florida voters -- 52 percent -- said they either supported or were leaning towards supporting Clinton while a little over 39 percent said they were supporting Trump.
Another six percent of voters said they were going to support or were likely to support Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson while another two percent said they supported Green Party nominee Jill Stein.
The percentage of likely voters favoring Trump never went above the 30 percent range in any of the groups surveyed in Florida.
“With results like these that put Clinton at least 10 points ahead, the thing the Democratic campaign will want to do most is guard against complacency. The campaign will still keep pressing voters to come out and cast ballots, and not feel they don’t need to bother,” Frank Orlando, director of the Saint Leo University Polling Institute said.
Most Florida voters -- nearly 70 percent -- said they believed Clinton would win, compared to the 29 percent who say Trump will win the election.
Respondents did seem to sympathize, however, with Trump’s recent claims of a “rigged election,” with nearly 41 percent of Florida voters saying they agreed there would likely be widespread voting fraud in the actual polling process. A larger amount, 53 percent, disagreed.
The survey falls in line with many others showing Clinton with an edge over Trump in Florida, but it is one of the few where her lead has grown into the double-digit range. Most polls have shown Clinton’s lead somewhere between three to five points.
In the U.S. Senate race, incumbent Marco Rubio is continuing the trend with his lead over Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy. Rubio carries a five-point lead over the Jupiter congressman, taking nearly 44 percent in the St. Leo poll over Murphy, who takes around 39 percent.
“This has become one of the seats that Republicans are relying on to hang on to control in the Senate,” Orlando said. “Marco Rubio has held a consistent lead in all three of our fall polls, and he’s running almost 20 points ahead of Trump in the state. Democrats seem to be more interested in pursuing gains elsewhere, though they’d still relish the opportunity to take away Rubio’s Senate platform leading into 2020.”
The St. Leo University Poll of 1,028 likely Florida voters was conducted between Oct. 22-26 and has a margin of error of =/-3 percentage points.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
