Barack Obama may have carried the Sunshine State twice but he’s upside down with Florida voters are still divided on even as they generally support his nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court while two Florida Republicans are also underwater.
A Quinnipiac University poll released on Tuesday morning finds half of those surveyed--50 percent--of Florida voters disapprove of Obama while 48 percent approve of him.
The poll shows 54 percent of Florida voters want the Senate to consider Obama’s nomination of Garland to the Supreme Court while 40 percent think the Senate should not consider it. A slim majority of Florida voters--51 percent--approve of the Garland nomination while a third of those surveyed--33 percent--disapprove of it. Currently, the Republican Senate majority plans to hold off on Garland’s nomination until after the presidential election in November, hoping Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, wins the White House.
While Obama’s slightly underwater in Florida, Republican Marco Rubio, who is not running for a second term in the Senate this year, has seen a sharp decline in his popularity following his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Almost half of Florida voters--49 percent--disapprove of Rubio while 42 percent approve of him. Rubio was knocked out of the presidential race back in March after Trump routed him in the Florida primary, carrying 66 of 67 counties. Recently Rubio has taken himself out of consideration to be Trump’s running mate.
Democrat Bill Nelson, whose third term in the Senate ends in 2018, is in far better shape as 47 percent of Florida voters approve of him and 26 percent disapprove of him. Despite Nelson being on the political stage for four decades, more than a quarter of those surveyed--28 percent--don’t know enough about Nelson to lean one way or the other. Nelson has garnered some buzz as a potential running mate for Hillary Clinton.
Rick Scott is approved by 40 percent of Florida voters while 49 percent disapprove of him. Peter Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac Poll, said this could doom Scott’s chances of being Trump’s running mate though the governor has taken his name out of the hat.
"Florida Gov. Rick Scott has a negative 40 - 49 percent approval rating,” Brown said on Tuesday. “He might hurt rather than help his fellow businessman-turned-politician Donald Trump's effort to carry Florida.”
The poll of 1,051 Florida voters was taken from April 27 through May 8 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.
