Poll: Donald Trump ups approval in Florida, leads against most Democrats

Donald Trump and Joe Biden
Joe Biden easily leads Dems, deadlocks Trump 50-50

President Donald Trump‘s approval rating has improved in Florida, and Republicans have reason to think that in Florida he could beat any of the Democrats running to oust him, according to a new poll released by Florida Atlantic University.

In the new survey, the best Democratic showing against Trump comes from former Vice President Joe Biden: they tie at 50 percent each. Trump leads U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont 51-49, though that’s within the poll’s margin of error. Other Democrats tested against Trump fall to him by 4 to 6 percentage points.

Among those Democrats, Biden has a commanding lead toward Florida’s Democratic presidential primary, favored by 39 percent of Florida Democratic voters, compared with 12 percent support apiece for Sanders and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

The Florida Atlantic University Business and Economics Polling Initiative poll of 1,007 Florida registered voters was conducted May 16-19. Pollsters said the poll has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Trump’s approval rating among Florida voters rose to 47 percent in the poll, up from 44 percent in the FAU BEPI’s poll in March.

Trump also had a 44 percent disapproval rating in the new poll.

“President Trump’s approval ratings in Florida have remained fairly steady across our polling, and he continues to have a strong base of support in this state,” Kevin Wagner, professor of political science at FAU and a research fellow of the initiative, stated in a news release. “Former Vice President Joe Biden does well across the board in Florida, and his strength among moderate Democrats appears largely unchallenged so far.”

Trump essentially has no Republican primary challengers, at least according to Florida Republican voters surveyed. FAU asked Florida registered Republican voters about two hypothetical one-on-0ne matchups and one actual one-0n-one matchup. Florida’s Favorite Son U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio managed just 5 percent against the president’s 85 percent. Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich managed just 2 percent. The only Republican actually running against Trump, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, barely registered, getting 1 percent.

The same can be said of the vast majority of Democratic presidential nominees tested by the FAU poll in Florida.

Biden’s 27-point lead over Sanders and Warren came in a 21-candidate Democratic field that FAU tested with Florida voters.

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg placed fourth, with 9 percent; U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California, fifth, with 7 percent; and former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas, sixth, with 5 percent. Everyone else included in the survey was below the margin of error, with 2 percent or less: Cory Booker, Julian Castro, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, Kirsten Gillibrand, Mike Gravel, John Hickenlooper, Jay Inslee, Amy Klobuchar, Wayne Messam, Seth Moulton, Tim Ryan, Eric Swalwell, Marianne Williamson, and Andrew Yang.

Recently announced Democratic candidates U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio were not included in the new FAU poll.

“Even though Joe Biden has a substantial lead among the Democrats, with almost 10 months to go before the Florida Democratic presidential primary, there is still plenty of time for the other candidates to make up ground,” Monica Escaleras, director of the FAU BEPI, stated.

Sanders lone bright spot was as a leader among young voters. In the 18-29-year-old range, he drew 25 percent, with Biden taking 15 percent. But Biden held off Sanders in the 35-49 age bracket, 21 percent to 15 percent, and trounced him in the 50-64 age bracket, 56 percent to 5 percent, and in the 65 and older bracket, 53 percent to 8 percent.

Scott Powers

Scott Powers is an Orlando-based political journalist with 30+ years’ experience, mostly at newspapers such as the Orlando Sentinel and the Columbus Dispatch. He covers local, state and federal politics and space news across much of Central Florida. His career earned numerous journalism awards for stories ranging from the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster to presidential elections to misplaced nuclear waste. He and his wife Connie have three grown children. Besides them, he’s into mystery and suspense books and movies, rock, blues, basketball, baseball, writing unpublished novels, and being amused. Email him at [email protected].


7 comments

  • NoTrump2020

    May 22, 2019 at 12:18 pm

    Florida obviously has a larger population of dummies than any other state!

    • Jomarie

      May 23, 2019 at 9:36 am

      Is not who vote is who count the votes. Republicans on charge of counting the votes? They stole meny elections. Or Russia change the numbers.

      • gary

        May 25, 2019 at 4:45 pm

        Jomarie- A 35 million dollar investigation ran by Mueller says you are ignorant.

  • Dave

    May 23, 2019 at 9:40 am

    poll of 1,007 Florida registered voters – Can you please provide more details? Were the people polled 60% Republican? xx% Dem xx% Ind.

    I have a lot of friends that are Fox news brainwashed Fools and about 30% of them are not voting for him because of his personal attacks.

    I’m curious of what number of voters that jumped last election and voted Trump are now regretting the jump.

    Thanks.

    • Ed

      May 23, 2019 at 4:00 pm

      Dave
      Your point about the cross tabs for the poll is valid. Unless we know how a poll is weighted, it is meaningless.

      As to the rest of your statement, allow me to fill in the blanks for you. I am a Republican with many Republican friends. When we discuss politics, about 1 out of 3 of my Republican friends state that when they discuss Trump with their liberal Democrat friends and co-workers, they just tell them what they want to hear which is that they no longer support Trump. They do this because they do not want to be constantly berated by these liberal Democrat friends and co-workers. They still support Trump and will still vote for him but will not tell you and other Democrats that to your face in order to avoid emotional temper tantrums being thrown at them by Democrats who are obsessed with Trump. It seems that many Republicans have learned virtue signaling from the Democrats and now use it to their advantage as a form of self preservation and self defense in the face of rabidly obsessed Trump hating Democrats. But much like the virtue signaling from Democrats, there is no sincerity to it.

      I hope that answers your questions.

    • gary

      May 25, 2019 at 4:47 pm

      The only voters brainwashed are Democrats Dave.

  • martinize

    May 23, 2019 at 12:19 pm

    the democratic party candidates resemble a car full of circus clowns. Every stop it makes, and another clown climbs aboard. The dems are the party of hatred, anti-free speach–unless it fits their agenda, no platform except free everything (at tax payer expense) for everyone, open borders so that our social welfare systems can be stretched even thinner.

    Wake up, get a platform, stand for something other then being “anti-trump”, and then you might be taken seriously.

Comments are closed.


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