August 16, 2016, 01:30 pm
Poll: Clinton pulling away from Trump in Florida
By Jonathan Easley
Hillary Clinton has opened up a 9-point lead over Donald Trump in Florida, a new poll finds.
A Monmouth University survey released Tuesday shows Clinton taking 48 percent support over Trump at 39 percent. Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson takes 6 percent support in the poll and 5 percent are undecided.
That’s a larger lead for Clinton than most other recent polls have found. Clinton leads by only 3.6 points in Florida according to the RealClearPolitics average.
Trump is trailing in most battleground states and it will be very difficult for him to win the election without Florida’s 29 electoral votes.
Clinton has amassed the support of most liberals in the Sunshine State, taking 92 percent support from Florida Democrats, while Trump is still struggling to rally his own party, with only 79 percent support from Florida Republicans.
Clinton also leads Trump among independents in the state, 47 percent to 30 percent.
The Democrat holds a 50 point lead among Hispanic, black and Asian voters, and a 10 point lead with women.
Trump, meanwhile, leads by 40 points among white men and by 14 points with white voters overall.
Clinton’s lead among minority voters is about equal to President Obama’s advantage over Mitt Romney in 2012, but Trump trails because he is doing far worse among white women than Mitt Romney did in the last election.
Romney won that demographic by 17 points, while Trump trails Clinton by 10.
“The gender split among white voters in Florida is huge,” said Monmouth pollster Patrick Murray. “Men are drawn to Trump’s message while women are not. These offsetting factors give Clinton the edge.”
Voters in Florida have overwhelmingly negative views of both candidates.
Only 36 percent have a positive view of Clinton, versus 50 percent who view her negatively. Thirty-three percent have a favorable view of Trump, against 54 percent who view him unfavorably.
Despite Trump's poor showing in the poll, incumbent Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) leads both of his potential challengers there.
Rubio leads Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.), the favorite of the Democratic establishment, 48 to 43. He leads Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) 50 to 39. Murphy and Grayson will square off in the Democratic primary at the end of the month.
The Monmouth University poll of 402 likely voters in Florida was conducted between Aug. 12 and Aug. 15 and has a 4.9 percentage point margin of error.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/291579-poll-clinton-pulling-away-from-trump-in-florida
