Less than a week before the Florida primary elections, Donald Trump is ahead of his two Republican rivals, based on the intended vote by his party’s registered voters in the state. Trump tops Marco Rubio by seven percentage points and has double the amount of intended votes as Ted Cruz (38% vs. 19%), according to the results of a new survey by Bendixen & Amandi International and The Tarrance Group conducted on behalf of Univision Noticias and The Washington Post.
Trump ahead of Marco Rubio by seven points in Florida among republican voters
Among Hispanic Republican registered voters in the Sunny State Rubio has more than double the intended votes as his two adversaries: 49% of the intended vote, compared to 21% for Cruz and 20% for Trump.
Por:Univision
Imagen Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Among Hispanic Republican registered voters in the Sunny State, the preferences lean in favor of Marco Rubio—who is not only the son of Cuban parents, but has also “Home Field Advantage” on the upcoming primaries on March 15 th. Rubio has more than double the intended votes as his two adversaries: 49% of the intended vote, compared to 21% for Cruz and 20% for Trump.
In general terms, Rubio is the candidate with the greatest favorability ratings among his party’s voters registered in Florida. Of these, 62% have a very favorable or somewhat favorable opinion of the Florida senator, compared to 57% for his two opponents.
Among Hispanics polled, the favorable opinion toward Rubio increases to 76%, while the opinion toward Trump drops down to 36%. Furthermore, the unfavorable opinion toward the tycoon, who among all persons surveyed is as low as 31%, shoots up to 61% among Republican voters of Latino origin registered in the state.
Rubio also is ahead of his opponents with respect to the perception the voters have of his honesty and trustworthiness. When asked which of the three candidates they considered to be the most honest and trustworthy, 34% of those polled leaned toward Rubio, 30% toward Trump and 21% toward Ted Cruz.
Furthermore, Republican voters registered in Florida believe that Rubio has a better personality and temperament for carrying out his duties as President of the United States, but when voters were asked who they thought had the best chances of being elected president in the November elections they overwhelmingly leaned toward Trump (60% compared to 17% toward Rubio and 15% toward Cruz).
The majority view of respondents (59%) expresses the idea that Rubio does not have many opportunities to become the nominee, in the sense that the Floridian candidate should resign his candidacy if not win the Florida primaries on March 15.
The fact that Trump is seen as an outsider, which many analysts see as one of his greatest strengths in this electoral process, was reflected in the question asking which of the candidates would be able to bring about an important change in Washington. Among Republican voters, 55% leaned toward Trump, 21% toward Rubio and 15% toward Cruz.
And even though they are distrustful of his character and temperament, the persons polled believe Trump is best able to manage the problems they consider to be most important in this election: the economy, immigration, terrorist threats and healthcare.
Curiously, Republican voters in the state appear to have a clearer vision of national politics than they do of local politics. Eight out of every ten persons polled do not yet know who they are going to vote for in their party’s primaries for electing the candidate that will represent them in the U.S. Senate seat that Marco Rubio will be vacating.
None of the current candidates vying for the Republican nomination seems to stir up much enthusiasm among their party’s voters, since all of them have less than 6% of the intended vote. Among Hispanics, Carlos López Cantera has 27% of the preferences, but that is not enough to place him ahead of his rivals in the general election.
On survey topics aside from the election, Republican voters registered in Florida differed radically from the opinion given by Democratic voters and which was reported in the survey, according to party affiliation, conducted by Bendixen & Amandi International and The Tarrance Group and published yesterday by Univision Noticias and The Washington Post.
While Democrats in the state overwhelmingly support (78%) the idea that the Senate submit to a vote of consent the name of the person nominated by Barack Obama to replace Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, eight out of ten Republican voters are opposed to the idea and believe the vote should be postponed until after the election of the new president.
While Democrats in the state are opposed by 80% to Donald Trump’s proposal to restrict entry into the country by Muslims who are not U.S. citizens, 57% of Republican voters registered in the Florida would support the idea.
And while 87% of the Democrats approve the visit that President Barack Obama will be making to Cuba next March 21 st, 59% of the Republicans are of the opinion that it should not take place.
Surprisingly, more Republicans (51%) than Democrats (46%) support the idea of ending the “dry feet, wet feet” policy that allows Cubans who flee the Island to stay in the United States if they set foot on U.S. soil.
Finally, only 28% of Republican voters registered in Florida support a possible financial bailout for Puerto Rico, whose debt exceeds 72 billion dollars. Among Democrats, 45% would support the bailout.
The exclusive poll published by Noticias Univision and The Washington Post consulted 450 Republican voters registered in the state between March 2nd and March 5th of 2016 and has a margin of error of +/- 4.6 %.