President’s numbers dip a bit in Florida

47% of voters disapprove

After one of the most tumultuous periods of his presidency, Florida voters are slightly more negative about President Donald Trump’s performance.

A Florida Atlantic University poll scheduled for release Tuesday found 37 percent of the state’s voters approve of Trump’s performance, with 47 percent disapproving — a net negative of 10 percentage points.

Similar FAU surveys found Trump had a net negative of 9 percentage points in June and 2 percentage points in March. His Florida numbers are better than his national numbers. Trump’s national rating is 39 percent approval to 56 percent disapproval, according to the latest compilation of national polls by Real Clear Politics.

The latest poll from the Florida Atlantic University Business and Economics Polling Initiative was conducted Wednesday through Saturday — two weeks after the racial violence in Charlottesville, Va., and four weeks after the president failed to get Republicans in Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare.

As surveying was taking place in Florida, Hurricane Harvey began its assault on Texas and the news emerged that Trump pardoned former Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was notorious for racial profiling of Hispanics. Several top Republican Party leaders were among the critics of the Arpaio pardon.

In the days following the Aug. 12 incidents in Charlottesville, Trump delivered numerous statements with a variety of messages. He said there were some “very fine people” among the white supremacist, neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan demonstrators, and that “both sides” shared blame for the violence that erupted there.

Confederate monuments

The white supremacist, neo-Nazi and KKK demonstrators gathered in Charlottesville in support of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. In the aftermath, the presence of monuments honoring the Confederacy and its leaders has become a controversial political issue. People who want the statues removed say they’re monuments to racism and slavery. Statue supporters say they’re worthy memorials.

The FAU poll found that the share of Florida voters who want statues honoring leaders of the Confederacy to remain in place is far larger than the group that wants them removed.

The statues should remain, said 49 percent of Florida voters surveyed, with 30 percent wanting their removal and 21 percent unsure.

Men and women had somewhat different views on Confederate statues. Among men, 53 percent said they should remain and 32 favored removal. Among women, 45 percent said they should remain and 28 percent wanted them removed.

There was a yawning partisan divide. Removal was favored by 45 percent of Democrats, with 33 percent saying the statues should remain. Removal was favored by just 15 percent of Republicans, with 70 percent of the party’s voters saying they should remain.

Independent/no party affiliation voters landed between the two partisan camps, with 28 percent favoring removal and 43 percent favoring retaining the statues.

‘Blame on both sides’

Florida voters are evenly split on Trump’s assignment of blame for the violence in Charlottesville.

Asked about Trump’s statement that “I think there is blame on both sides,” 42 percent of Florida voters agreed and 44 percent disagreed. Another 14 percent were undecided.

Men and women had slightly different perspectives, with 48 percent of men said there was blame on both sides, compared to 37 percent of women who saw blame on both sides. Among men, 41 percent disagreed with the president’s statement and 47 percent of women disagreed.

There was a deep partisan split on the question of blame. Just 23 percent of Democrats agreed there was blame on both sides, compared to 67 percent of Republicans and 36 percent of no party affiliation/independent voters. Democrats overwhelmingly disagreed — 64 percent — with the assignment of blame to both sides, compared to 21 percent of Republicans who disagreed and 45 percent of independents who disagreed.

Other findings

The FAU poll showed that perspectives on Trump continue to mirror party allegiances:

Among Republicans 68 percent approve of the president’s job performance and 21 percent disapprove.

Among Democrats, just 14 percent approve of Trump’s job performance and 72 percent disapprove.

Among no party affiliation/independent voters, 29 percent approved and 44 percent disapproved.

There was a gender difference. Among men, 45 percent approve and 43 percent disapprove of Trump’s performance; among women, 31 percent approve and 50 percent disapprove.

Voters were split about the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare: 30 percent want to keep Obamacare as it is, 33 percent want it repealed in part, and 37 percent want it replaced completely.

51 percent of Democrats want to keep the law as it is and 61 percent of Republicans want it completely replaced.

The fine print

The survey of 800 Florida registered voters was conducted online and through automated calls to people with landline telephones. The FAU Business and Economics Polling Initiative said it had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. Breakdowns for smaller groups, such as men, women, Democrats and Republicans, would have higher margins of error.

Recent FAU surveys have involved fewer respondents with online only sampling. Monica Escaleras, director of the FAU Business and Economics Polling Initiative, said the organization is experimenting to see what combinations of polling methods get the broadest representation of different demographic groups.

She said the people who received the automated robocalls were more likely to take the survey in English rather than Spanish and were more likely older than age 55. Online respondents were more likely to be ages 18 to 34 and more likely to be independents.

The final poll results were weighted to reflect the statewide distribution of the state’s population. Escaleras said the two sampling methods produced similar responses on test questions.