Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hasn't lost her iron grip on the Democratic primary in Florida, flying high above party rivals in the Sunshine State, a new poll shows.
Clinton leads a Qunnipiac poll of Florida Democrats released Thursday morning with 64 percent. Vice President Joe Biden, who has left the door open to another presidential bid, takes distant second with 9 percent. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who is finding a niche with liberal voters looking for an alternative to Clinton, takes third with 8 percent.
The rest of the candidates have not made much of an impression in Florida. Gov. Martin O’Malley takes 1 percent; Lincoln Chafee, who represented Rhode Island in the U.S. Senate as a Republican before being elected governor as an independent before joining the Democrats, takes less than 1 percent. So does former U.S. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia.
The poll shows Clinton is in great shape with Florida Democrats, as 82 percent see her as favorable,11 percent as unfavorable. Biden also gets good marks among Florida Democrats, with 73 percent seeing him as favorable while 11 percent view him as unfavorable.
Sanders is largely unknown to Florida Democrats with 59 percent of those surveyed saying they haven’t heard enough about him while 26 percent see him as favorable and 14 percent view him in an unfavorable light. O’Malley is even more unknown, with 72 percent saying they haven’t heard enough about him, 11 percent seeing him as favorable and 17 percent as unfavorable.
More than three-quarters of Florida Democrats -- 76 percent -- say they haven’t heard enough about Webb to hold an opinion on him while 11 percent see him as favorable and 13 percent view him as unfavorable. Chafee is even more unknown, with 77 percent saying they haven’t heard enough about him while 15 percent see him as favorable and only 7 percent view him in a favorable light.
The poll of 378 Florida Democrats voters was taken June 4 -15 and had a margin of error of +/- 5 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
