Businessman Donald Trump and former Gov. Jeb Bush, R-Fla., have the edge on former U.S. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton in Florida, the largest swing state in the Electoral College, a new poll shows.
Florida Atlantic University’s (FAU) Business & Economics Polling Initiative (BEPI) matched some of the leading Democratic and Republican presidential candidates against each other in a poll released on Wednesday with most of the matchups proving close.
Trump leads Clinton 47 percent to 44 percent with Florida voters. Bush also lead the Democrat by a similar margin, taking 45 percent while Clinton garners 42 percent.
Clinton does better against some of the other Republican hopefuls, tying U.S Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., with 46 percent each and leading U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, 47 percent to 42 percent.
The Republicans do better when U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is included instead of Clinton as the Democratic candidate. Trump leads Sanders 47 percent to 42 percent. Rubio is also ahead of Sanders 47 percent to 42 percent. Sanders does best against Cruz with each of them taking 42 percent. FAU did not pit Bush against Sanders in the poll.
All of the candidates are upside down in the Sunshine State. More than half of those surveyed--51 percent--see Clinton as unfavorable while 42 percent see her favorably. Trump’s numbers are exactly the same with 51 percent viewing him as unfavorable and 42 percent seeing him in a favorable light.
Rubio is seen as unfavorable by 52 percent while 37 percent view him favorably. Bush has the highest unfavorable number at 55 percent while 33 percent see him favorably. Cruz has the lowest favorable number at 31 percent and 54 percent view him as unfavorable.
While he carried Florida twice, President Barack Obama is also upside down in Florida though less than half of those surveyed--48 percent--disapprove of him while 43 percent approve of him.
The poll of 1,008 Florida voters was taken from Jan. 15-Jan. 18 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
