JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A University of North Florida poll released Tuesday shows registered voters in Florida are split over the formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
Of the more than 600 registered voters interviewed last week, 48% approved of the House of Representatives formally beginning an impeachment inquiry into Trump while 47% disapproved, according to the poll. The strongest support came from registered Democrats at 82% approval with only 13% approval among registered Republicans. Overall, 5% of respondents don’t know.
When a separate question was asked about Trump being impeached and removed from office, 46% indicated support and 48% opposed, with 6% not knowing.
When it comes to Trump’s job approval, 44% approve of how he is handling his job while 53% disapprove. Job approval is highest among Republicans at 82%, with 13% of Democrats approving.
“Floridians are evenly split on impeachment, both on beginning the inquiry and removing Trump from office,” Dr. Michael Binder, faculty director of the Public Opinion Research Lab (PORL) at UNF said in a media release accompanying the poll. “This similarity speaks to the division within the electorate regarding Trump: either they support removing him from office, or they are opposed to the impeachment inquiry entirely. It’s possible that both Republican Senators will end up sitting in judgement during an impeachment trial. An even split among the public likely would not convince co-partisan senators to break with the president.”
PORL also asked several questions about potential vote choice if the general election was held last week between Trump and some of the leading candidates in the Democratic primary.
UNF Trump Poll |
“The head-to-head horserace questions for the 2020 election appear to reinforce two popular narratives,” Binder said. “First, this is going to be an extremely close race, as each potential matchup is within the margin of error. Second, (Joe) Biden appears to have the best chance of beating Trump in Florida with a five-point lead. However, one of the contributors to the difference between the other candidates and Trump is the increased level of “don’t know” responses among Democrats when (Elizabeth) Warren, (Kamala) Harris and (Pete) Buttigieg are on the ballot. I would expect those Democrats to come home come November, much like Republicans did in 2016 with Trump.”
The margin of sampling error for the total sample is +/- 3.8 percentage points. For more information on the methodology of the poll, visit the UNF website.