A.G. Gancarski
A poll of likely voters in Duval County reveals that 65% will opt for in-person voting this election.
Across all party identifications and most demographic groups, a clear majority of respondents in the St. Pete Polls survey conducted Thursday said they intend to vote in person, either in the early voting period starting Oct. 19 or on Election Day.
Republicans are most likely to vote in person, according to the poll. Three out of every four Duval County GOP members will opt for showing up and casting a ballot.
But despite a concerted Democratic push nationally to drive voting by mail, 58% of the Duval Democrats surveyed will vote in person. Independent voters are tracking at the same level.
Just as the party breakdown shows that most voters will vote in person regardless of registration, the same holds true in cases of racial and gender identity.
Black voters are statistically the most likely to vote by mail, but among the 204 surveyed by St. Pete Polls, 56% intend to vote in person.
White voters, meanwhile, are the most likely to vote in person, with a full 70% of the 465 surveyed intending to show up, with 30% opting to vote by mail.
Hispanic and Asian-American Pacific Islander voters likewise registered full majorities in favor of in-person polling, albeit with limited sample sizes.
No real gender gap exists among Duval County voters on the issue, but the survey suggests women may be slightly more likely to show up and vote than men.
The trend holds up among most age groups also, though Duval County’s oldest voters are slightly more likely to vote by mail than in person.
Of voters 70 years of age and older, 52% told pollsters they will vote by mail, but in every other cohort at least two thirds of voters expect to show up and vote on or before Nov. 3.
The autodial survey of 749 likely Duval County voters was conducted on Sept. 24, using the registered voter lists supplied by the state of Florida as of Aug. 4.
