WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has a two-point lead over Hillary Clinton among likely voters in the crucial battleground state of Florida, according to a new Bloomberg poll released Wednesday.
Both Trump and Clinton are fighting for Florida in the closing days of the campaign and as the early vote has started. Trump considers Florida his second home.
In the Senate race, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has a 10-point edge over Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy.
Highlights from Bloomberg’s John McCormick’s poll story:
• In Florida, Trump has 45 percent to Clinton’s 43 percent among likely voters when third-party candidates are included, the poll found.
• Independents are a key swing vote. Among independents, Trump gets 43 percent to Clinton’s 41 percent in a head-to-head contest.
• Clinton gets 51 percent of Florida’s Hispanic vote in a two-way contest.
• “Just more than half, including 84 percent of Trump’s own supporters, aren’t bothered by his refusal at the last debate to say that he would accept the results of the election.”
Key quote: “This race may come down to the independent vote,” said pollster J. Ann Selzer, who oversaw the survey. “Right now, they tilt for Trump. By a narrow margin, they opted for Obama over Romney in 2012.”
Keep in mind: “Trump’s showing in this poll is stronger than in other recent surveys in the state. Clinton had an advantage of 3.1 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics Florida average on Tuesday.”
METHODOLOGY NOTES: “The survey included 953 registered voters who said they’d already cast ballots or plan to do so, including an oversample of 148 Hispanics to allow for a more statistically solid analysis of their views. The margin of error on responses from just Hispanics is plus or minus 6.7 percentage points.”
“Read the questions and methodology for the Selzer & Co. poll, which has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points, here.“
