Poll: Hispanic voters are warming to Florida ballot measures on recreational pot, abortion

Hispanic voters in Florida are growing keener on a pair of ballot measures aimed at legalizing recreational cannabis and protecting abortion access, new polling by TelavisaUnivision and Media Predict found.

Sixty percent of Hispanic voters are either a definite or probable “yes” on Amendment 3, which, if approved by 60% of voters in November, will essentially decriminalize pot in Florida for people 21 and older.

That’s up 2 points from early last month, prior polling by the media companies shows.

Support among Hispanic voters for Amendment 4, which would ensure patients could receive abortion treatments until fetal viability, remained steady at 63% month-over-month.

But the latest poll shows respondents are more convicted in the choice. Last month, 39% of Hispanic voters were a definite “yes” on the abortion measure after reading its language, while 24% said they would probably vote for it. This month, 41% were certain they would vote for Amendment 4, with 22% inclined to do so as well.

Sixty-three percent of non-Hispanics survey respondents said they are sure to or would likely vote for Amendment 3, while 60% said the same about Amendment 4.

TelavistaUnivision and Media Predict surveyed 1,155 likely Florida voters online Sept. 12-16, including 540 Hispanic voters and 615 non-Hispanic voters. Pollsters weighted the results to reflect local demographics — age, gender, education — and political affiliation.

The margin of error for Hispanics was 4.3 percentage points. For non-Hispanics, it was 4 percentage points.

Hispanic Floridians agree with their non-Hispanic neighbors that economic issues are most important heading into the General Election. Eighty percent of Hispanic voters said rising costs of living are most problematic, followed by inflation (79%) and the economy/jobs (71%).

Other important matters included health care (68%), Social Security/Medicare (65%), affordable housing (64%), immigration (61%) and national security, taxes and public safety (60% each).

Just 23% think culture war issues and LGBTQ rights should be prioritized.

Notably, 43% of Hispanic voters said abortion is the No. 1 issue for them this election cycle, 3 points higher than non-Hispanics. Sixteen percent said it’s the only factor determining whom they vote for — more than inflation (14%), cost of living (13%) and the economy/jobs (10%).

On the issue of abortion, pollsters also found:

­— 53% of Hispanics and 50% of non-Hispanics refuse to vote for a political candidate whose views on abortion were at odds with theirs.

— 43% of Hispanics and 53% of non-Hispanics believe abortion laws should be created by state governments, not the federal government.

— 35% of Hispanics and 28% of non-Hispanics think abortion should be legal only in the case of rape, incest or when the mother’s life is in danger.

— 15% of Hispanics and 14% of non-Hispanics believe abortion should be legal at any time during pregnancy.

Curiously, just 10% of Hispanic voters and 12% of their non-Hispanic neighbors said abortion should be legal only until the fetus can survive outside the womb (approximately 24 weeks of pregnancy) — which is essentially what Amendment 4 would confer.

The poll shows Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump by 4 points among Hispanic voters, though roughly 3 in 10 are still up for grabs in the presidential race.

In the Senate race, former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a Democrat, has closed the gap with the man she’s running to supplant, Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, with both candidates now at 29% locked-in support.

After California and Texas, Florida has the most Hispanic voters in the nation, with 2.75 million representing 22% of the state’s electorate, according to L2 Data Mapping’s list of active registered voters as of mid-May. Among them, Democrats slightly outnumber Republicans, but most (more than 1 million) either have no party affiliation or are members of a third party.

The General Election is on Nov. 5.