Biden leads Trump in Florida, tied in Arizona and Texas: poll

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is leading President Trump in Florida, according to a new poll, and is tied with the president in two other key swing states Trump carried in 2016: Arizona and Texas.

Biden has a 6-point lead over Trump in Florida, based on the CBS News poll released Sunday. The former vice president has 48 percent support and Trump has 42 percent in the Sunshine State. 

In Texas, the candidates are in statistical dead heat, with Trump at 46 percent and Biden at 45 percent.

Trump and Biden both have 46 percent support in Arizona.

The three battleground states are also experiencing surges in coronavirus cases. The poll found that voters most concerned with COVID-19 were more likely to support Biden. 

Biden had overwhelming support — 72 percent in Arizona, 67 percent in Florida and 68 percent in Texas — among voters who are “very concerned” about COVID-19, pollsters found.

Biden had the support of only 15 percent of Florida voters who are “not concerned” about COVID-19, and his support was even lower among voters in Arizona and Texas who agreed. 

The poll also found that Biden has more support among likely female voters than Trump in each of the three swing states. Biden is also doing better with women than Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton did in 2016, CBS noted. 

Biden has also narrowed the gap among voters aged 65 and older. Trump leads Biden among seniors in Florida by 8 points, at 50 percent support compared with Biden’s 42 percent. CBS exit polls from 2016 found Trump had 57 percent support among seniors in the Florida and Clinton had 40 percent support. 

Biden also has a significant lead over Trump among Hispanic voters in each of the three states, garnering 69 percent support in Arizona, 61 percent in Florida and 60 percent in Texas, based on the poll. Trump received just 21 percent support among Hispanic voters in Arizona and 30 percent in Florida and Texas. 

Trump however, continues to lead among white voters without a college degree. Sixty-eight percent of likely white voters without a college degree in Texas said they would vote for Trump, as did 60 percent in Arizona and 57 percent in Florida. Biden earned just 24 percent support in Texas and 31 percent support in Arizona and Florida among the same group of voters. 

The surveys, which were conducted between July 7 and July 10, are based on samples of 1,099 registered voters in Arizona, 1,229 voters in Florida and 1,212 voters in Texas. The margins of error for the Arizona, Florida and Texas surveys are 3.8 percentage points, 3.5 percentage points and 3.3 percentage points, respectively.