FAU survey shows 45% of Floridians think Democrats should replace Joe Biden as presidential nominee

Former vice president Joe Biden holds rally in Tampa, Oct. 29, 2020. Credit: Screenshot, C-SPAN.

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The first major public opinion survey taken in Florida following last week’s presidential debate shows that 45% of all Floridians would like to see the Democratic party replace Joe Biden as the party’s presidential nominee, with 40% saying that the party should stay with the incumbent.

The survey of 961 registered voters conducted by Mainstreet Research for Florida Atlantic University last weekend says that of those 45% who want another candidate, 14% say that Vice President Kamala Harris should be the nominee, with 31% saying they’d like another candidate to succeed him. Another 16% said they did not know what the party should do.

Among the Democratic voters asked who they’d like to succeed Biden as the nominee, 25% chose Vice President Kamala Harris and 21% chose former First Lady Michelle Obama, who has been unequivocal in stating that she has no interest in running for office. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is next with 17%. Michigan Gov, Gretchen Whitmer gets 7%; Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg 6%; and 2% support New York U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Sixteen percent were undecided and 6% preferred another candidate.

The negative reaction to the performances of both Trump and Biden during the debate is reflected in the poll, with 27% of all voters feeling disgust towards Trump and 24% of voters feeling disgust towards Biden. Another 22% of all voters felt sadness about Biden, while 18% of all voters felt pride about Trump and another 11% anger towards the former president.

“Overall, there are overlapping emotions that respondents felt in the aftermath of the debate,” said Luzmarina Garcia, assistant professor of political science at FAU and a PolCom Lab-affiliated researcher, in a statement accompanying the findings.

“Disgust was a particularly pronounced emotion toward both candidates, while sadness was a common response toward Joe Biden and pride was a common emotion toward Donald Trump. Interestingly, non-voters in the last general election and Independents mainly expressed disgust following the debate.”

The survey shows Donald Trump has just a two-point lead over Joe Biden among likely voters if the two men are on the ballot in Florida, 46%-44%, but it should be noted that there were many more Democrats than Republicans polled (397 Democrats to 284 Republicans and 280 independents).

The poll was conducted both by both IVR (calls are dialed automatically by a computer) and online. Because of that hybrid, the pollsters say that a margin of error can’t be assigned, “but a poll of this size would have a margin of error of +/- at the 95% confidence level.”

The original version of this story has been altered in line with a clarification issued by the polling group.

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