Donald Trump, Rick Scott hold strong leads in new General Election polling

Image via AP.

Democrats maintain that Florida is in play. But new polling from Associated Industries of Florida (AIF) challenges that theory.

In the survey, both Donald Trump and Rick Scott have majority support headed into November.

In the case of Trump, 52% of respondents say they will vote for him to carry Florida for a third time in eight years. Vice President Kamala Harris has 44% support, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sits at 3% in a three-way race.

In a two-way contest, Trump leads 53% to 46% against Harris.

“President Trump won Florida by three points in 2020, and, with less than three months to go until Election Day, he appears to be in a very strong position to grow his margin and win Florida for the third time in 2024,” said AIF Vice President of Political Operations Jeremy Sheftel.

The survey of 800 registered likely General Election voters in Florida was conducted between Aug. 6 and  Aug. 8.

The AIF poll comes as another public poll shows a closer race for the White House in the Sunshine State. The USA Today/Suffolk University/WSVN-TV phone poll of 500 likely voters conducted between Aug. 7 and Aug. 11 shows Trump ahead of Harris, 47% to 42%, with 5% backing Kennedy and 5% undecided.

Meanwhile, Scott is in good shape in the AIF survey as well, even though the USA Today survey, which is R+8, showed him at just 35% approval.

Here, he leads former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell by 10-points (52-42%) with 7% of voters undecided.

Polling of a potential race between Mucarsel-Powell and Scott has been all over the place, and this survey falls in between the extremes in surveys in recent months.

In a survey released by Florida Atlantic University, she’s just 2 points back among likely voters, 45% to 43%.

That June poll presented a marked contrast to a previous poll by the same outfit that showed a 16-point race, and with a Florida Chamber of Commerce poll that showed a 15-point gap earlier this Summer.