Donald Trump edges Hillary Clinton in Florida, a new poll shows.
On Wednesday, a day after St. Leo University released a poll showing Clinton beating Trump by 14 percent in the Sunshine State, Florida Atlantic University’s (FAU) Business and Economics Polling Initiative (BEPI) released a poll showing the Republican ahead.
Trump pulls 43 percent in the FAU poll while Clinton takes 41 percent. Gary Johnson, the former New Mexico governor who is running again on the Libertarian line, gets 8 percent while 5 percent are undecided.
Both candidates are upside down in Florida. Trump is seen as favorable by 41 percent while 56 percent view him as unfavorable. Clinton is seen as favorable by 40 percent while 58 percent view her as unfavorable.
Men go for Trump 46 percent to 36 percent but women break Clinton’s way 45 percent to 41 percent. Almost half -- 49 percent--of white voters are for Trump while 33 percent are for Clinton. The Democrat gets 50 percent of Hispanics while 40 percent are for Trump. African Americans are for Clinton 68 percent to 20 percent.
“The race between Clinton and Trump among Hispanics in Florida is closer than it is nationally,” said Monica Escaleras, the director of the BEPI. “Some of that is
probably the Cuban vote. Trump’s support among Latinos in Florida is helping him stay competitive.”
Trump does well with voters outside the major parties with 47 percent supporting him while Clinton takes 26 percent of them.
The poll shows far different results than the St. Leo poll when it comes to which age groups are supporting the candidates. Clinton blew out Trump with younger voters in the St. Leo poll but in the FAU poll she is up 38 percent to 35 percent with voters younger than 35. Trump carried seniors in the St. Leo poll but Clinton is ahead 45 percent to 43 percent with voters between 55 and 74 and running off with voters 75 and older 60 percent to 34 percent.
Clinton is ahead in South Florida but Trump is ahead in every other part of the state, the FAU poll finds.
Asked what the most important issue is, 29 percent say their dissatisfaction with government, 18 percent think it’s jobs, 13 percent say immigration and 12 percent think it is ISIS.
Asked what is the most important quality for a president, 27 percent think it is experience, 16 percent point to being commander in chief, 15 percent say trustworthiness, 14 percent say focusing on the economy and 12 percent say being a political outsider.
“The fact that both Mr. Trump and Secretary Clinton are significantly upside down in their favorability ratings could make it difficult for either to move substantially
ahead,” said Kevin Wagner, an associate professor of political science at FAU and a research fellow of PEBI. “Clinton likely got a boost from the fact that Floridians chose experience
as the top quality they are looking for in their presidential candidate. But, Floridians also chose dissatisfaction with government as their top issue, which likely favors Mr. Trump.”
The poll of 1,200 likely Florida voters was taken from August 19-22 and had a margin of error of +/- 2.7 percent.
