Florida poll puts Biden 13 points over Trump

Florida is seemingly reconsidering its narrow 2016 vote for President Trump.

While Trump won the state by just a percentage point in 2016, former Vice President Joe Biden has pulled ahead of Trump 51-38, a Quinnipiac University poll out Thursday indicates. Approval for Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is also down 31 points since the last Quinnipiac Florida poll in April, suggesting rampant COVID-19 spread in the state is at least partially to blame.

Quinnipiac's April poll gave Biden only a 46-42 lead over Trump, but he has since won over 4 percent of independents in the state to widen his lead. Voters overwhelmingly say Biden would also handle the coronavirus better than Trump, 58-38, as well as racial equality, 58-38. Just 37 percent approve of Trump's handling of the coronavirus.

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Meanwhile voters give DeSantis, who has been a vocal supporter of Trump since before his election in 2018, a negative approval rating of 41-52, and give his handling of the coronavirus just 38 percent approval. Those are DeSantis' lowest approval numbers since his election, Quinnipiac notes.

The candidate who wins Florida has also won the presidency for the last six elections, adding to the national polls that already put 2020's election in Biden's favor.

Quinnipiac surveyed 924 registered voters in Florida via landline and cell phone from July 16–20, with a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.