http://www.wtsp.com/news/exclusive-poll-gop-race-tightens/76354871EXCLUSIVE POLL: GOP race tightensTheresa Colllington, WTSP 6:55 PM. EST March 10, 2016
The latest numbers are closer than any other poll results so far on where Florida voters are leaning just days away from Tuesday’s Florida Presidential Primary.
A new, exclusive Lakeland Ledger – 10News WTSP poll shows Donald Trump holds a 36%-30% lead over Marco Rubio in the Florida Republican presidential primary. Ted Cruz polled at 17% and John Kasich came in with 8%.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton is ahead by an overwhelming 68%-23% margin over Bernie Sanders.
Rubio’s strong support from Hispanic voters (62%) is primarily concentrated in Southeast Florida. Among white voters, who make up the large majority of the GOP electorate, Trump leads Rubio 40%-24%.
Trump appears to have weaker support from female Republicans, as he trails Rubio 37%-29%. But among men, Trump has a wide 42%-24% advantage over Rubio. Breaking down the results by age groups, 18-34- year-olds lean to Trump at 46% with Rubio at 36%. But voters 65+ favor Rubio 39%, with 32% for Trump.
Clinton leads most of the key groups among Democrats. Her most solid support is with blacks (80%), Hispanics (73%), women (74%) and voters 65+ (82%). Sanders has 68% of 18-34 millennials while Clinton has 28%. It is the only key demographic group where he beats Clinton.
This phone poll was conducted from March 7 through March 9. Pollsters interviewed likely voters - 700 registered Republicans and 500 registered Democrats. The margin for error, according to standards customarily used by statisticians, is no more than ± 4.5 percentage points in the Democratic survey and ± 3.8% for the Republican survey.
While the poll focused on the March 15 presidential primary, pollsters did ask about the upcoming race for the U.S. Senate. That vote is not scheduled until August. But when Republicans were asked which candidate they would vote for if the election were held today, congressman David Jolly scored at the top of the list at 9%. When Democrats were asked which candidate they would vote for if the election were held today, Patrick Murphy polled at 33% and Alan Grayson at 19%.
