Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Florida voters sour on Trump, new poll suggests
Florida voters have turned sharply more negative about Donald Trump than they were at the beginning of his presidency.
Polling data released Monday by Morning Consult show 46 percent of the state’s voters approving of Trump’s performance in December, with 49 percent disapproving. That’s a net negative of 3 percentage points.
Nationwide, 44 percent of Americans approved of Trump’s performance last month and 52 percent disapproved, a net negative of 8 percentage points.
What’s remarkable in the numbers is Trump’s plunge in Florida since January 2017. As he was taking office, his approval was far higher in Florida and a far smaller percentage disapproved.
In January 2017, his approval rating among the state’s voters was 56 percent, with 34 percent
disapproving, a net positive of 22 percentage points.
He’s down 25 percentage points in net approval in Florida over the past two years — one of the biggest declines of any state. Only seven states had larger decreases in Trump approval.
And Florida, which Trump won with 49 percent of the vote to 47.8 percent for Hillary Clinton, is no longer one of the president’s best states.
In January 2017, Florida voters provided the 12th highest approval rating for Trump among all the states. In December 2018, Florida was 22nd in presidential approval.
At the beginning of his term, Trump had a net positive approval rating in 38 states. In December, he had a net positive rating in 21 states.
Voters are sharply divided along party lines. Nationwide, Trump retains strong support — 84 percent — among Republicans. Among independents nationwide, 37 percent approve of Trump. Among Democrats, just 10 percent approve of his performance.
The figures come from the latest edition of Morning Consult’s “Tracking Trump” polling report, which provides survey data from every state every month.
In December, Morning Consult reported, Trump’s approval rating dropped in most states. Morning Consult provides research, news, and brand-tracking technology for companies and conducts surveys for many major media organizations.
Its reports provide numbers — but not the reasons behind the numbers — so it’s not possible to know if the pending partial government shutdown, stock market volatility or other factors led to the change in voters’ views of Trump.
The December numbers were based on a total of 139,975 interviews of registered voters in each state and Washington, D.C., The margin of error in Florida was plus or minus 1 percentage point, which means the approval and disapproval numbers could be slightly higher or slightly lower.