Trump holds a substantial lead over Biden among white voters, 56-39 percent. However Trump won the same group by more than 30 points in 2016, and Biden’s support in central Florida and areas outside of Democrats’ traditional strongholds in the southern part of the state is stronger than Clinton’s was in 2016.
“The current picture has Biden maintaining a typical Democratic advantage in southern Florida while making notable inroads in other parts of the state,” Monmouth polling director Patrick Murray said in a release.
One major warning sign for the president is the level of support among military voters, where Trump has a 4-point lead over Biden among veterans and those in military households. However among all survey respondents, a larger percentage — 70 percent — said that Biden respects the military and veterans, compared to just 56 percent for Trump.
The poll was conducted shortly after an explosive report in The Atlantic, parts of which were subsequently backed up by other outlets, that detailed accusations of Trump belittling top military officers and denigrating soldiers’ sacrifice — accusations the White House has steadfastly denied — as well as other comments recorded by veteran journalist Bob Woodward that were made public.
“Are the incumbent’s alleged negative statements about the military responsible? We can’t say for certain since we don’t have a prior trend on this question,” Murray said. “But it sure can’t be helping.”
A majority of voters, 53 percent, also disapproved of the job Trump has done handling the Covid-19 pandemic, with only 44 percent saying he has done a good job.
A Florida Atlantic University poll also released Tuesday found that Biden leads by 3 points, 49 percent to 46 percent, among likely voters with 5 percent undecided. The results were within the survey’s margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.
However there were some promising signs for Trump. FAU survey respondents found that 72 percent of Trump voters were “extremely excited” to cast ballots for the president, compared to 60 percent of those saying they would vote for Biden. In a statement that accompanied the poll’s release, the pollster said that that “undecideds are breaking for Trump 4:1.”
