A new poll released by the University of North Florida shows Florida voters favor former Vice President Joe Biden over President Donald Trump by six points.
In a head-to-head-matchup, the poll shows the following horse-race breakdown:
The poll, conducted by the Public Opinion Research Lab at UNF, also indicates that more Florida voters disapprove of Trump’s response to the coronavirus outbreak than approve of it:
- Disapprove, 53%
- Approve, 45%
Florida voters also do not trust that the information Trump is providing on the coronavirus outbreak is reliable, according to the poll results:
- Distrust Trump 58%
- Trust Trump, 41%
The poll could be an early indicator of how Floridians will vote in the upcoming presidential election.
“Unless things turn around quickly and decisively, Florida may become Trump's Waterloo,” Martin Sweet, an affiliate assistant professor of political science at Florida Atlantic University, told The Hill.
Florida casts 29 electoral votes and is consistently a decision maker in presidential elections. President Trump edged out Hillary Clinton in Florida in 2016 by a little more than one percentage point. Democrats won in Florida in 2008 and 2012.
While the results point toward Trump being the underdog in Florida, director of the Public Opinion Research Lab Michael Binder said the poll results should be looked at with caution.
“I would exercise caution when looking at these numbers, first these are registered voters – not likely voters; second, the campaign season has screeched to a grinding halt and people are rightly less focused on politics,” Binder writes in a press release. “Although, this same sample of voters when asked who they voted for in 2016, indicated a very slight advantage for Trump, suggesting that something may be changing in Florida ahead of the election.”
The UNF COVID-19 Statewide Poll surveyed 3,244 registered Florida voters from March 31-April 4 and has an overall margin of error +/-1.7 percentage points.