Poll Shows Trump Ahead of Clinton in Florida

WUSF | By Naomi Prioleau

Published July 14, 2016 at 1:12 PM EDT

Presidential candidate Donald Trump has a lead over candidate Hillary Clinton in Florida, according to a new swing states poll by Quinnipiac University.

The poll, released Wednesday, shows Trump leads Clinton by three points, 42 percent to 39 percent in Florida.

In last month’s poll, Clinton had led Trump by 8 points.

Peter A. Brown, assistant director with Quinnipiac University, said the loss of Clinton’s lead could be due to the decision not to indict her on her email scandal.

“It's certainly reasonable to think that all the publicity about the Justice Department's decision not to indict her,” he said. “The resulting furor from those who think she is not be treated as would other people in that situation might have something to do with the change in political positions of the two.”

Trump leads Clinton 43 percent to 41 percent in Pennsylvania and the two candidates are tied in Ohio, both receiving 41 percent support by registered voters.

Florida’s breakdowns are as followed:

Men: Trump, 50 to 29 percent
Women: Clinton, 48 to 36 percent
Independents: Trump, 44 to 35 percent
Republicans: Trump, 82 to 6 percent
Democrats: Clinton, 87 to 4 percent
White voters: Trump, 54 to 30 percent
Non-white voters: Clinton, 56 to 21 percent
Favorability ratings: Trump, 38 to 54 percent

When it came to comparing the candidate’s character traits, Trump and Clinton ranked as followed:

53 to 37 percent that Clinton is better prepared to be president
42-42 percent tie on who has higher moral standards
52-35 percent that Clinton is more intelligent
50-37 percent that Trump is more honest and trustworthy
54-39 percent that Trump would be better at creating jobs
49-45 percent that Trump would do better on immigration
57-35 percent that Trump would be more effective against ISIS

Brown said that the polls are only a representative of how voters feel at the present moment. He said within the next four months, they could either change or stay the same.

“At this point, Mr. Trump seems to be doing a little bit better in Florida than he has been and doing a little bit better than Mrs. Clinton,” he said. “You know we have four months to go in the election we could see candidates swap positions or not.”