President Donald Trump would lose in hypothetical matchups between the leading Democratic contenders in three key states according to the results of polls released this week, USA Today reports. One of those states, Florida, has awarded its electoral votes to the presidential winner in the past six elections.
In a new poll by Florida Atlantic University released this week, voters were asked to choose between Trump and any of several Democratic contenders in hypothetical matchups. In Florida, Wisconsin, and Michigan, the polls indicate that Trump would lose to most of them. Florida’s 29 electoral votes, Wisconsin’s 10, and Michigan’s 16 amount to 55 votes — a coveted bloc of electoral votes from key swing states that could easily tilt the election.
In Florida, Joe Biden beats Trump by just under three points, 51.4 percent to 48.6 percent, in a hypothetical matchup. Bernie Sanders beats Trump by almost six points, 52.9 percent to 47.1 percent, while Elizabeth Warren beats him by less than two points, 50.8 percent to 49.2 percent. Trump versus Pete Buttigieg is a 50-50 split.
Florida’s electoral votes have gone to the eventual presidential winner in the last six elections, including the contentious 2000 election, which saw the Sunshine State’s electoral votes going to George W. Bush by a mere few hundred votes. Those 29 electoral votes gave Bush the election over Democratic challenger Al Gore.
In Wisconsin, a poll by Marquette University finds Biden beating Trump in a hypothetical matchup by four points, 49 percent to 45 percent. Against Sanders, Trump loses by a mere one point, 47 percent to 46 percent. Against either Warren or Buttigieg, Trump would win, by 48 percent to 45 percent against Warren and by 46 percent to 44 percent against Buttigieg.
In Michigan, a poll from EPIC-MRA of Lansing sees Biden beating Trump 50 percent to 44 percent. Sanders would beat Trump 50 percent to 45 percent; Warren beats Trump 48 percent to 45 percent; and Buttigieg beats him 47 percent to 43 percent. Michael Bloomberg would beat Trump 49 percent to 47 percent.
Michigan had long been considered by Democrats to be a safe state for the party, but that proved false in 2016. Hillary Clinton didn’t conduct much of a campaign there, and Trump won the election by a narrow margin.
As for who the eventual Democratic nominee that faces off against Trump in November will be, nationwide polling puts Joe Biden in a comfortable lead ahead of his rivals. As Real Clear Politics reports, a compendium of recent polls has Biden leading — in some cases by double digits — against all of his Democratic rivals.
