President Barack Obama is underwater in Florida, a state he carried twice, a new poll shows but officials holding statewide officer are in better shape.
Quinnipiac University released a poll on Thursday morning showing a majority of those surveyed--53 percent--disapprove of Obama while 44 percent approve of him. Obama creates a partisan divide with 89 percent of Democrats approving of him and 91 percent of Republicans disapproving of him. A majority of voters outside the major parties--56 percent--disapprove of Obama while 40 percent approve of him.
Obama causes a major gender gap in Florida. While 59 percent of men disapprove of Obama, 51 percent of women approve of him. There is also a racial divide as 64 percent of non-white voters approve of Obama while only 34 percent of white voters do. Only 32 percent of non-white voters disapprove of Obama while 64 percent of white voters disapprove of him.
There is also an age gap in Florida as 61 percent of voters 34 and younger approve of Obama but he is upside down with other age groups.
Rick Scott is slightly underwater as 44 percent disapprove of the governor while 43 percent approve of him. Most Republicans--72 percent--approve of Scott while 70 percent of Democrats disapprove of him. Voters outside the major parties are split on Scott with 42 percent approving and 45 percent disapproving. Scott is up 10 percent with men and down 11 percent with women.
White voters go Scott’s way with 49 percent approving of him and 40 percent disapproving. Non-white voters break the other way with 51 percent disapproving of Scott and 33 percent approving.
Despite having been on the Florida political stage for four decades, including 16 in the U.S. Senate, 30 percent of voters aren’t sure about Democrat Bill Nelson while 42 percent approve of him and 29 percent disapprove. Nelson has the approval of 51 percent of Democrats while only 12 percent disapprove of him. Republicans are more divided but Nelson has the approval of 36 percent of them while 41 percent disapprove of him. Nelson has the approval of 42 percent of voters outside the major parties while 32 percent disapprove of him.
Men are divided on Nelson with 37 percent approving of him and the same percent disapproving of him. Women break Nelson’s way by a two to one margin with 45 percent approving of him and 22 percent disapproving of him. Nelson is above water with all age groups and with both white and non-white voters.
Nelson’s Senate colleague Republican Marco Rubio is in worse shape but 46 percent approve of him while 43 percent disapprove of him. Rubio has the approval of 70 percent of Republicans and the disapproval of 64 percent of Democrats while voters outside the major parties are divided with 45 disapproving of him while 44 percent approve of him.
Rubio is slightly above water with both men and women while younger voters generally like him. Almost half of voters 34 and younger--49 percent--approve of Rubio while 30 percent of them disapprove. But Rubio’s upside down with seniors as 48 percent disapprove of him and 44 percent approve of him. Non-white voters split on Rubio with 42 percent approving of him and the same percent disapproving of him. Rubio does better with white voters as 48 percent approve of him and 43 percent disapprove of him.
The poll of 1,015 registered Florida voters was taken from June 30-July 11 and had a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent. One big caveat in the poll’s methodology on party registration. Despite Democrats having the edge in the number of registered voters in the state, 31 percent of those surveyed are from the GOP, 32 percent are independents and 29 percent are Democrats.
