Trump and Biden deadlocked in Florida, poll shows

Florida, with its coveted 29 electoral votes, is deadlocked between President Trump and Joe Biden, a new poll shows.

“It’s razor thin and too close to call,” pollster John Zogby told the Herald late Tuesday. “President Trump is consolidating his base and picking up support among older voters with his law-and-order message.”

Trump won the state in 2016 by 1 percentage point and he’s again gaining support with Hispanics — a voting bloc Hillary Clinton was counting on from the Sunshine State four years ago.

With just eight weeks to go before the election, a new NBC News/Marist poll released Tuesday shows both candidates have 48% support among “likely” voters. Trump edges ahead by one point — 48-47% — among “registered” voters, the poll states.

Ballots are being mailed in Florida later this month, making this poll all the more vital.

“Sunshine from the Sunshine State would put Trump closer to re-election,” said GOP consultant Rob Gray.

But, he added, Trump still needs wins in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona “and other places.”

Still, the Florida polling is eye-opening coming off the state’s troubles combatting COVID-19, Gray added.

The NBC News/Marist poll shows Trump ahead when voters were asked who would better handle the economy. Biden, the poll also shows, has the advantage on the coronavirus and race relations.

“If Trump loses Florida, it’s game over. If Trump wins, the story of the night will still have to be told,” Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the survey, told NBC News.

The president was in Florida Tuesday where he signed a presidential order, as the White House tweeted, “extending the moratorium on offshore drilling on Florida’s Gulf Coast — and expanding it to Florida’s Atlantic Coast and the coasts of Georgia & South Carolina!”

That news drew support from all over the region to help protect the coast.

President @realDonaldTrump just signed a presidential order extending the moratorium on offshore drilling on Florida's Gulf Coast—and expanding it to Florida's Atlantic Coast and the coasts of Georgia & South Carolina! pic.twitter.com/PrcSYtkZx1

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 8, 2020

The NBC News/Marist survey questioned 1,047 registered voters in Florida, including 766 likely voters, by live telephone operators. The survey’s sampling error for likely voters is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points, according to NBC News.

Other polls out Tuesday, according to Real Clear Politics, show Biden ahead in Pennsylvania by 2 points and 5 points in Michigan.

Biden is also polling ahead by 4 points in Ohio, Real Clear Politics states, and up by double-digits in New Jersey.

As for his job approval, that’s also looking even for Trump 50-50, Rasmussen Reports.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2Fb8seu