JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Floridians are evenly split on the House of Representatives’ decision to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, according to a new poll from the University of North Florida.
The survey by the Public Opinion Research Lab shows 48 percent of respondents support the inquiry, while 47 percent disapprove.
“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,” Dr. Michael Binder, the lab’s faculty director, said.
The strongest support comes from Democrats, with 82 percent voicing approval. Only 13 percent of Republicans did so.
Binder said numbers like these could have an impact if the House, after multiple committee investigations, does approve articles of impeachment and sends them to the Senate for consideration.
“It’s possible that both Republican Senators [from Florida] will end up sitting in judgment during an impeachment trial," Binder said. "An even split among the public likely would not convince co-partisan senators to break with the president.”
Impeachment efforts stem from a whistleblower report that claimed President Trump had asked Ukraine's president to investigate Joe Biden and his son - and threatened to withhold military aid if they didn’t.
The survey also asked registered voters who they would pick in head-to-head matchups between President Trump and individual Democratic candidates.
Former Vice President Joe Biden fared best, by a margin of 5 percent. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren bested the president by 3 percent. But Binder said the Democrats shouldn’t be overly comforted by that.
“The head-to-head horserace questions for the 2020 election appear to reinforce two popular narratives,” he said. “First, this is going to be an extremely close race, as each potential matchup is within the margin of error. Second, Biden appears to have the best chance of beating Trump in Florida.”
In the poll, Trump wins matchups with lesser-known Democrats, such as California Senator Kamala Harris (by 3 percent), and Southbend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg (by 1 percent).
“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 Warren, Harris and Buttigieg are on the ballot,” Binder said.
Biden and Warren do considerably better when pitted against Vice President Mike Pence in the poll. Biden scores 11 points higher, while Warren bests Pence by 6 percent.
“If the impeachment process somehow gets to the point where Trump is removed from office, Biden and Warren fare much better against Pence in the hypothetical matchups,” Binder said.
Survey respondents cited health care and immigration as the two biggest issues facing the U.S., each of those being ranked by 18 percent. There were clear differences by party, with immigration leading the way for Republican voters at 29 percent, and healthcare topping the list for Democrats at 22 percent.
“Even though Democrats and Republicans differ on which is more important, expect these two issues to dominate the campaign,” Binder said.
Also scoring high among issues were the economy (12 percent) and education (11 percent).
The survey found Floridians believe it’s important a presidential candidate thinks like them on social issues (62 percent) and economic ones (66 percent).