Questions about Hillary Clinton’s ethics have led Donald Trump to bounce back in the Sunshine State, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University.
Trump takes 41 percent in the new poll followed by Clinton with 36 percent. Libertarian Gary Johnson takes 7 percent while Green Party candidate Jill Stein pulls 4 percent.
In two candidate race, Trump gets 42 percent while Clinton gets 39 percent. A Quinnipiac poll from June, before the FBI and Justice Department said they would not charge Clinton for using a private server for her State Department email, had her ahead 47 percent to 39 percent.
“Donald Trump enters the Republican Convention on a small roll,” said Peter Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll, on Wednesday. “He has wiped out Hillary Clinton's lead in Florida.
"While there is no definite link between Clinton's drop in Florida and the U.S. Justice Department decision not to prosecute her for her handling of e-mails, she has lost ground to Trump on questions which measure moral standards and honesty,” Brown added.
Both candidates are upside down in Florida with 59 percent seeing Clinton as unfavorable and 54 percent viewing Trump as unfavorable. Clinton is seen as favorable by 35 percent while Trump is seen as favorable by 38 percent.
There is a gender gap in Florida with men going for Trump 50 percent to 29 percent while women break for Clinton 48 percent to 36 percent. Voters outside the major parties back Trump 43 percent to 30 percent, a major shift from last month when Clinton led this group 44 percent to 35 percent. Whites favor Trump 54 percent to 30 percent while non-whites go for Clinton 56 to 21 percent.
Brown said Trump needed to do better with non-white voters.”
"In Florida, Donald Trump is getting only 21 percent of the non-white vote,” Brown said. “Although he is winning among white voters, who are mainly Republican, victory in Florida will be a very difficult lift for him if he can't do better among non-white voters.”
Clinton is seen as better prepared to be president and more intelligent than Trump. But the poll shows Florida voters think Trump is more honest and would do better at creating jobs, on immigration and at taking on ISIS.
Trump’s also helped by the political environment with 71 percent of Florida voters agreeing “that the old ways don't work and it's time for radical change” and 80 percent of them agreeing “that public officials "'don't care much what people like me think.’” Trade is also helping Trump as 55 percent of Florida voters agree “that foreign trade agreements have hurt me personally” but 39 percent disagree.
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.
