Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:13 pm
Trump’s dances with birthers are not going over well in Florida, as Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump by 5 points in the Sunshine State.
According to a new Monmouth University poll of Florida:
Among Florida voters likely to participate in November’s presidential election, 46% currently support Clinton and 41% back Trump. Another 6% intend to vote for Libertarian Gary Johnson and 1% support Green Party candidate Jill Stein, with 5% who are undecided.
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Most Florida voters (75%) have heard about Trump’s recent admission that Barack Obama was born in the United States, but they doubt the GOP nominee’s sincerity. Only 24% think that Trump actually believes Obama is a natural born citizen, while the majority (54%) say Trump only made the statement for political reasons.
Trump also implicated Hillary Clinton in starting the birther controversy back in 2008. More Florida voters do not believe she had a role in it (47%) than say she did (35%). While most voters (76%) say this recent flap will have no impact on their vote, 18% say Trump’s statement makes them less likely to vote for him and just 4% say it makes them more likely.
Republican officials reportedly pressured Trump into saying that President Obama was born in the United States, but voters don’t believe that Trump’s statement was sincere. Florida voters aren’t buying Trump’s claim that Hillary Clinton started the birther controversy, and by bringing it up, the Republican nominee has lost some support with voters in the state.
What is striking about the Florida poll is how little the core of the election in the state has changed. Hillary Clinton’s advantage with non-white voters (69%-16%) and Trump’s lead with white voters (53%-35%) have remained at nearly the same levels that they were measured at last month.
The media huffing and puffing about momentum and shifts have buried the fact that fundamentally this presidential election remains unchanged. Voters are locked in, which means that 2016 is a base election, and right now, in Florida, Hillary Clinton’s base is bigger than Donald Trump’s.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
