President’s approval rating dips a bit in Florida

Florida voters’ view of President Donald Trump has dipped, slightly, in a new poll.

A Florida Atlantic University Poll released Wednesday found 41 percent approve and 47 percent disapprove of Trump’s performance, a net negative of 6 percentage points.

The poll showed sharp divisions along party lines with 76 percent of Democrats disapproving of Trump and 80 percent of Republicans approving.

Among independent voters, 31 percent approved and 51 percent disapproved.

In May, the same poll found Trump’s net negative was just 2 percentage points.

The president’s Florida numbers continue to outpace his national numbers.

The RealClearPolitics average of national polls, which includes eight current surveys, shows his approval at 43 percent and his disapproval at 53 percent, a net negative of 10 percentage points.

That’s the same favorable/unfavorable position he held in May, though it’s bounced slightly up and down during the past 11 weeks.

Russian interference

Russian meddling in the 2016 election has been a constant subject of attention during Trump’s presidency, and the nation’s intelligence community has warned of the possibility of repeat attempts to interfere in the 2018 midterm election.

More than six in 10 Florida voters are concerned that Russia may try to interfere in this year’s elections.

Breakdown: 39 percent very concerned; 24 percent somewhat concerned; 21 percent not very concerned; and 12 percent not concerned at all.

But there’s a dramatic partisan difference on the issue. Democrats and people who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 were many times more likely to be very concerned about election meddling this year than Republicans and people who voted for Trump.

Democrats: 64 percent very concerned; 21 percent somewhat concerned; 7 percent not very concerned; 5 percent not at all concerned.

Republicans: 21 percent very concerned; 20 percent somewhat concerned; 38 percent not very concerned; 19 percent not concerned at all.

Independents: 30 percent very concerned; 31 percent somewhat concerned; 19 percent not very concerned; 14 percent not concerned at all.

Kevin Wagner, an FAU political scientist and research fellow at the Business and Economics Polling Initiative, said the divergent views represent the polarization of the electorate.

“What’s becoming increasingly clear is that partisan lenses affect how one sees the Russian interference issue,” he said. “There’s a definite sort of my team-your team effect with how we see the news.”

The survey of 800 Florida registered voters was conducted online and through automated calls to people with landline telephones on Friday and Saturday.

The FAU Business and Economics Polling Initiative said it had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Breakdowns for smaller groups, such as Democrats, Republicans and independents, have higher margins of error.

Divided over Trump

The deep divisions over Trump haven’t changed much since the November 2016, when Trump won the state’s 29 electoral voters with 49 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton received 47.8 percent.

In February, he had a net negative of 3 points. Previous FAU surveys found Trump had a net negative of 6 points in November 2017; 10 percentage points in August 2017; 9 percentage points in June 2017; and 2 percentage points in March 2017.

The biggest change during the course of Trump’s presidency has been the dramatic decline in the percentage of Florida voters who were undecided. In March 2017, when Trump was well known but still new to the job, he had 36 percent approval and 38 percent disapproval — with a total of 26 percent who were neutral or didn’t have an opinion.

In the latest survey just 12 percent don’t have a view.