Raleigh, N.C. – 53% of Florida voters support a path to citizenship for illegal
immigrants, compared to 31% of voters who are opposed to it. There’s a
bipartisan consensus on the issue with independents (58/25), Democrats
(57/30), and Republicans (45/35) all supportive of reform.
Marco Rubio’s been a leading voice on the immigration issue recently.
31% of voters say they support his stance on immigration while 27%
disagree and 42% aren’t sure either way. What’s interesting within the
crosstabs is that 28% of voters who say they support his position on
immigration actually oppose a path to citizenship. And 65% of voters who say they oppose his position actually support
a path to citizenship. Those numbers suggest a lot of people on both
sides are reacting more to his party label than his actual position on
the issue when assessing their opinion of Rubio’s view.
We also asked voters their opinion about Jeb Bush’s stance on a path
to citizenship…but 57% of voters said they’re not sure what it is.
75% of Florida voters support at least civil unions for same sex
couples, compared to only 23% who think there should be no form of legal
recognition for them. 80% of independents, 74% of Republicans, and 72%
of Democrats support either gay marriage or civil unions. When asked
about the specific domestic partner bill that was recently introduced in
the Florida legislature though 60% of voters said they had no opinion,
with 23% supportive of and 17% opposed to it. Those numbers mostly
reflect the average voter not paying much attention to the legislature.
“Florida voters support moving forward on the issues of immigration and gay
rights,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “There’s pretty
strong support for a path to citizenship and for civil unions.”
51% of Floridians say they generally support stronger gun laws, compared
to 43% who are opposed to adopting stricter rules. On the more specific
issue of an assault weapons ban voters are very closely divided with
47% favoring it and 45% against.
When we polled Floridians about former Lieutenant Governor Jennifer
Carroll last summer, only 27% of voters had heard of her. Even after a
week where she was very much in the news following her resignation, we
still find only 31% of voters in the state have an opinion about her.
Her net favorability has unsurprisingly dropped 18 points from +1 last
summer (14/13) to now -17 (7/24).
We find Florida voters closely divided in their opinion about both
Barack Obama (49/48) and each of their US Senators- Marco Rubio is at
44/43 and Bill Nelson comes in at 38/40.
Finally sinkholes have been prominent in the Florida news lately and
we find that 34% of voters in the state are concerned about falling
into one (13% ‘very concerned) while 67% are not worried about that
happening to them. Interestingly there is a large partisan divide when
it comes to concern about falling into a sinkhole with 46% of Democrats
but only 22% of Republicans worried about getting sucked into the
ground.
PPP surveyed 500 Florida
voters from March 15th to 18th. The margin of error is +/-4.4%. This poll was not
paid for or authorized by any campaign or political organization. PPP surveys
are conducted through automated telephone interviews.
Topline results are below. Full results, including crosstabs, can be found here.
Q1 Do you approve or disapprove of President
Barack Obama’s job performance?
Approve …………………………………………………. 49%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 48%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 3%
Q2 Do you approve or disapprove of Senator Bill
Nelson’s job performance?
Approve …………….. .38%
Disapprove…………. .40%
Not sure …………….. .22%
Q3 Do you approve or disapprove of Senator
Marco Rubio’s job performance?
Approve …………….. .44%
Disapprove…………. .43%
Not sure …………….. .13%
Q4 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Jennifer Carroll?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 7%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 24%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 69%
Q5 Do you support or oppose Marco Rubio’s
stance on immigration, or are you not sure
what it is?
Support ………………………………………………….. 31%
Oppose ………………………………………………….. 27%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 42%
Q6 Do you support or oppose Jeb Bush’s stance
on immigration, or are you not sure what it is?
Support ………………………………………………….. 21%
Oppose ………………………………………………….. 22%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 57%
Q7 Do you support or oppose legislation that
would allow for a legal way for illegal
immigrants in America to become U.S.
citizens?
Support ………………………………………………….. 53%
Oppose ………………………………………………….. 31%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 16%
Q8 Which of the following best describes your
opinion on gay marriage: gay couples should
be allowed to legally marry, or gay couples
should be allowed to form civil unions but not
legally marry, or there should be no legal
recognition of a gay couple’s relationship?
Gay couples should be allowed to legally
marry ……………………………………………………..38%
Gay couples should be allowed to form civil
unions but not marry …………………………………37%
There should be no legal recognition of a gay
couple’s relationship …………………………………23%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 2%
Q9 Do you support or oppose the domestic
partnership bill that has been proposed in the
Florida legislature?
Support ………………………………………………….. 23%
Oppose ………………………………………………….. 17%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 60%
Q10 Would you support or oppose banning assault
weapons?
Support ………………………………………………….. 47%
Oppose ………………………………………………….. 45%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 8%
Q11 Would you support or oppose Congress
passing stricter gun laws?
Support ………………………………………………….. 51%
Oppose ………………………………………………….. 43%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 6%
Q12 Generally speaking, if there was an election for
Congress today, would you vote for the
Democratic or Republican candidate from your
district?
Democrat ……………………………………………….. 46%
Republican……………………………………………… 43%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 11%
Q13 How concerned would you say you are about
falling into a sinkhole: very concerned,
somewhat concerned, or not that concerned?
Very concerned……………………………………….. 13%
Somewhat concerned ………………………………. 21%
Not that concerned ………………………………….. 67%
Q14 In the last presidential election, did you vote for
Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?
Barack Obama………………………………………… 48%
Mitt Romney……………………………………………. 46%
Someone else/Don’t remember …………………. 5%
Q15 Would you describe yourself as very liberal,
somewhat liberal, moderate, somewhat
conservative, or very conservative?
Very liberal ……………………………………………… 13%
Somewhat liberal …………………………………….. 17%
Moderate………………………………………………… 32%
Somewhat conservative……………………………. 21%
Very conservative ……………………………………. 17%
Q16 If you are a woman, press 1. If a man, press 2.
Woman ………………………………………………….. 53%
Man……………………………………………………….. 47%
Q17 If you are a Democrat, press 1. If a Republican,
press 2. If you are an independent or identify
with another party, press 3.
Democrat ……………………………………………….. 42%
Republican……………………………………………… 37%
Independent/Other…………………………………… 22%
Q18 If you are Hispanic, press 1. If white, press 2.
If African-American, press 3. If other, press 4.
Hispanic…………………………………………………. 12%
White …………………………………………………….. 69%
African-American …………………………………….. 11%
Other……………………………………………………… 8%
Q19 If you are 18 to 45 years old, press 1. If 46 to
65, press 2. If you are older than 65, press 3.
18 to 45………………………………………………….. 36%
46 to 65………………………………………………….. 38%
Older than 65………………………………………….. 26%
