Businessman Donald Trump does better against former U.S. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton in Florida than his main rivals for the Republican presidential nomination while former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg doesn’t look like a factor in the Sunshine State if he makes a third party presidential bid, a new poll shows.
Public Policy Polling (PPP), a firm with connections to major Democrats, released a poll of Florida voters late on Thursday night which shows Trump besting Clinton 46 percent to 44 percent. When matched up against U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., as the Democratic nominee, Trump leads 47 percent to 44 percent.
The Democrats do better against U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Clinton leads Rubio 45 percent to 43 percent while Sanders leads the Republican 44 percent to 42 percent.
Clinton and Sanders do even better when paired against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Matched against Cruz, Clinton takes 47 percent while 39 percent of voters prefer the Texas Republican. Sanders gets 46 percent when inserted as the Democratic candidate while Cruz remains with 39 percent.
The poll shows if Bloomberg makes an independent or third party presidential bid, he will barely crack double digits in Florida. Trump takes 42 percent in that scenario with Clinton right behind him at 41 percent while 10 percent back the former New York City mayor. Trump does far better against Sanders in this situation, getting 45 percent while the Vermont senator gets 34 percent and 11 percent are for Bloomberg.
All of the major contenders are upside down in Florida, the poll shows. Trump is seen as favorable by 39 percent while 51 percent see him unfavorably. Clinton is seen as unfavorable by 53 percent while 39 percent view her in a favorable light. Sanders is seen as favorable by 35 percent and unfavorable by 47 percent. Cruz does the worst with only 23 percent seeing him as favorable while 62 view him as unfavorable. Despite three terms as mayor of New York, Bloomberg remains somewhat unknown in Florida but 35 percent see him as unfavorable while 22 percent see him favorably.
Rubio also gets low marks as 31 percent approve of him and 55 percent disapprove of him. More than half--53 percent--of those surveyed see Rubio as unfavorable and a third--33 percent--see him as favorable. Asked if he should continued his presidential bid, 44 percent say he should get out of the race but 40 percent think he should continue. Asked if Rubio’s presidential bid has helped Florida’s image, 20 percent say it has, 24 percent think it’s made the image worse and 44 percent say it hasn’t impacted at all.
Despite carrying Florida twice, President Barack Obama is also upside down in the Sunshine State with 48 percent disapproving of him and 46 percent approving of him.
The poll of 1,012 registered Florida voters was taken from Feb. 24-Feb. 25 but before the Republican presidential debate on Thursday night. The poll had a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
