Poll: Six Democrats lead Trump in Florida match-ups

Six Democratic presidential hopefuls have more support than President Trump in Florida, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday.

Former Vice President Joe Biden carried the biggest lead over Trump, taking 50 percent support in the state to Trump’s 41 percent. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also beats Trump in a hypothetical matchup, 48 percent to 42 percent.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) carries a 4-point lead over Trump in Florida, while Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg each lead the president by 1 point.

{mosads}The poll results were released hours before Trump is expected to formally launch his 2020 reelection campaign with a rally in Orlando, Fla.

The findings suggest that the president may face a tougher time than expected as he looks to shore up support in the Sunshine State. He won Florida in 2016 by roughly 1 point, and his campaign is expected to invest heavily there in 2020.

Trump owns several properties in Florida, including Mar-a-Lago, a lavish private club in West Palm Beach that the president has traveled to frequently since entering the White House.

According to the Quinnipiac survey, most Florida voters — 54 percent — say they are better off financially today than they were in 2016, while only 23 percent say they are worse off.

But despite that, Trump’s approval in Florida is underwater. Forty-four percent said they approve of the job he’s doing, while more than half of respondents — 51 percent — disapprove.

The poll numbers are welcome news for Democrats after a midterm election cycle in which two of the party’s highest-profile candidates in Florida — former Sen. Bill Nelson (D) and gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum — lost their respective bids to Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), two staunch Trump allies.

“Florida Republicans have won the last five major statewide elections, all by very close margins, but Sunshine State Democrats see these very early numbers as a sign that their losing streak might be coming to an end,” Peter Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said.

Florida Democratic voters won’t head to the polls to choose their presidential nominee until March 17, and the state has not yet become a regular campaign stop for the slate of Democratic hopefuls.

But Democratic groups and activists are gearing up for a massive electoral push in the state leading up to the 2020 election.

Two liberal super PACs, Priorities USA and American Bridge 21st Century, are preparing to drop hundreds of millions of dollars in four battleground states, including Florida. Meanwhile, Gillum and the Florida Democratic Party are prepping a major voter registration push in a bid to increase turnout in 2020.

Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,279 Florida voters from June 12 to June 17. The survey has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.