Donald Trump has a whole new problem down in Florida
When Donald Trump decided to move from New York to Florida back in September, it was seen exactly for what it was – a desperate move to get out of legal trouble with New York state. Even his supporters were without an excuse for him on this one and he was the butt of a number of “Florida man” jokes. It’s been around a month since Trump officially changed his residence to Florida, and not much has changed for the better.
If he thought that this move might endear him to voters in the crucial swing state and give him a better shot of being re-elected, that strategy isn’t looking too clever at the moment. According to a new poll released on Tuesday, 51.4% of Florida voters aren’t particularly happy with his job performance, with only 45.6% approving. He’s doing a bit better with polling in Florida than his overall national approval rating, but the problem is that more than half the state isn’t happy with his performance, and the number of people who do like him are very clearly in the minority. It’s a whole other question of whether they’ll actually be willing to come out to vote for him come November.
Polls also show him doing poorly in Florida against his Democratic opponents, trailing each of the potential frontrunners – sometimes trailing Joe Biden by as much as five points. Because Florida is a fairly moderate state, these polls will likely always show single digit margins for the candidates, but the fact is, Trump has some real trouble here and his stunt didn’t exactly help with his shrinking base. In fact, there’s plenty of good reasons for Floridians not to like him, as he reneged on his 2016 campaign promise to protect people with preexisting conditions and regularly works to undermine the Affordable Care Act – which could leave 8 million Florida residents with no health care.
His infamous tax scam bill also raised taxes for half a million people in the state. Florida is still well in play for the Democrats next year – and a reminder of how toxically unpopular Trump is becoming nationwide.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making