TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Two polls were released Tuesday each finding former President Donald Trump with a sizeable lead over Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election in Florida, and both results expanded on his 2020 and 2016 margins in the Sunshine State.
McLaughlin & Associates’ poll, conducted Aug. 6-8 among 800 likely voters, found Trump with a lead of 8% in the field when independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is included, and a lead of 7% in a head-to-head.
In the full field, Trump garnered 52% of the vote, according to the poll. Harris gained 44%, and Kennedy obtained 3%. McLaughlin’s poll was announced by the Associated Industries of Florida Center for Political Strategy.
Suffolk University also released a poll giving Trump a smaller lead of 5% over Harris among 500 likely voters, 47%-42%. That poll was conducted Aug. 7-11.
For Senate, McLaughlin found Republican Sen. Rick Scott easily trouncing Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell by 10%, leading 52%-42%. It found 7% were undecided.
As reported in the Florida’s Voice presidential election polling aggregate, Trump holds an average lead of 6.5% across five polls conducted after July 24, a couple days after President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race.
The McLaughlin poll released Tuesday also found that 49% view the direction of the state as positive, with 45% at negative.
Additionally, the poll found that Republicans are preferred by voters by a wide 23% margin when it comes to the economy, 18% on reducing inflation and prices, 28% on crime, 4% on education and 7% on protecting personal freedom.
“President Trump won Florida by three points in 2020, and, with less than three months to go until Election Day, he appears to be in a very strong position to grow his margin and win Florida for the third time in 2024,” said AIF Vice President of Political Operations Jeremy Sheftel.
This week, Florida Republicans officially broke a lead over Democrats of one million.
Republicans are also performing strongly in Aug. 20 primary turnout.
