Vice President Kamala Harris may have energized Florida's Democratic base, but a poll released Tuesday morning suggests her candidacy hasn't yet changed voter preferences in the state.
The survey of likely Florida voters from the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab shows Donald Trump ahead of Harris by a robust 7-point margin, 49% to 42%.
“It’s not a huge surprise to see Trump ahead in his home state of Florida, which he won by three points in 2020,” Michael Binder, a UNF political science professor and the polling lab's director, said in a prepared statement. “With Harris just entering the race, enthusiasm amongst her supporters has livened up what was once thought to be an easy win for Trump in Florida.”
The poll is the first survey of the state electorate since President Joe Biden opted to not seek the party's nomination in August at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. In the past week or so, Harris has quickly moved to lock up Biden's delegates and unite the party behind her, while reportedly raising more than $200 million.
Florida Democrats insist they will put 'Florida in play'
Her candidacy has unleashed a wave of enthusiasm, Florida Democrats say, that has led to more than 11,000 new volunteers to step forward to help the Harris campaign. This past weekend saw phone banks and other activities across the state marking 100 days of campaign blitzing until Nov. 5.
Congressman Maxwell Frost, an Orlando Democrat and member of Harris' national advisory board, insisted it's not "just a talking point" in claiming that Florida is "already a state that is in play."
"Look, here in Florida, we saw unprecedented actions from volunteers from across the entire state, in blue counties and in red counties," Frost said. "So much energy. People are excited to get out there and vote for the vice president to be the next President of the United States."
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Frost said the campaign will stress that Floridians' votes "matter" and will highlight a record including climate crisis measures and noteworthy strides in reducing Black and Latino unemployment while bolstering fortunes for minority businesses.
Congresswoman Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach said there's been "an overwhelming groundswell of support" across the country, in Florida and in Palm Beach County, Trump's home county.
Frankel noted that in the United States, one-third of women of reproductive age now live in states with abortion bans, including 4 million in Florida. She said the state's new restrictions are leading to dangerous miscarriages and 68,000 forced pregnancies.
"Even his neighbors don't want Donald Trump's extreme Project 2025 agenda, and that includes a nationwide abortion ban," she said.
"Listen, Floridians want the freedom to make their own health care decisions," Frankel added, saying Harris would sign the Women's Health Protection Act to secure access to legal abortions across the United States. "Women want to be in charge of when or whether to start or grow a family."
UNF poll found closer U.S. Senate race, wide support for constitutional amendments
The poll, however, pointed to a much narrower gap between U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, who is seeking re-election, and one of his potential Democratic rivals, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. The GOP incumbent topped the former Democratic congresswoman from Miami, who must still win the party's primary in August, by just 4 percentage points, 47% to 43%.
That lead was just inside the margin of error of 4.6 percentage points.
Scott on Tuesday continued to denounce the results of the recent presidential election in Venezuela won by Nicolás Maduro in a vote count observers say was rife with fraud.
"I’m demanding that Joe Biden & Kamala Harris immediately stand with the people of Venezuela for freedom, recognize Edmundo González as President-elect, own up to their failures & reimpose sanctions on Maduro & his thugs," Scott wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Scott, who served in the U.S. Navy, also posted that he was "honored" to have the backing of more than 250 veterans from Florida. "I will never stop fighting to make Florida the most military and veteran-friendly state in the country," he wrote.
Florida Democrats held a call Tuesday to mark Medicare's 59th anniversary and to bash Scott over a plan he offered up in 2022 to sunset all federal programs unless Congress reauthorizes them every five years.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, called the proposal "a cynical attempt" to undermine the popular program she said is a key lifeline for 5 million senior citizens in Florida.
"Two years ago, Rick Scott authored an authoritative plan to put Medicare and Social Security on the chopping block," she said.
Scott's plan was eschewed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, and was posterized by President Joe Biden in his 2023 State of the Union address. Scott angrily retorted that Democrats were "lying" about his plan but later modified it to exclude Social Security, Medicare, Veterans Administration benefits and national security and defense spending.
Wasserman Schultz said Scott's talk about reducing the federal government to half its current size would require massive cuts to the two programs.
"That's simply not possible without decimating Medicare and Social Security and he knows it," she said.
The congresswoman also took aim at Project 2025, a so-called blueprint for a potential Trump term in the White House. She said it would seek to repeal the law allowing Medicare to negotiate drug pricing and cap monthly insulin costs at $35.
She said Project 2025 would also end up costing 120,000 Medicare recipients on average $400 in average annual Part D savings.
"Mega millionaires like Rick Scott don't sweat that kind of money but the seniors that I represent sure do," she said.
Two high-profile constitutional amendments on the November ballot appear to enjoy the electorate's favor.
Some 64% said they were a "yes" vote on Amendment 3, which would legalize adult recreational marijuana use, with just 31% saying no. Support for Amendment 4 to protect access to abortions polled even higher — 69% saying yes to only 23% saying no.
Antonio Fins is a politics and business editoratThe Palm Beach Post, part of theUSA TODAY Florida Network.You can reach him atafins@pbpost.com.Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
