Clinton Leads Trump By 14 Points In Florida

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s famous call to build a wall between the U.S. and  Mexico has turned the Hispanic vote against him. In Florida, one of the most valuable swing states for Trump to win, a large Hispanic electorate means that the business mogul is trailing in the polls.

A Saint Leo University poll released Aug. 23 shows that Trump is behind by 14 percentage points in Florida. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton leads support with 51.7 percent of likely voters. Trump holds 37.7 percent. Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson rallies 8.3 percent. And Green Partyer Jill Stein rounds out fourth with 2.4 percent of likely voters.

The Saint Leo poll was conducted online Aug. 14 through 18.

Frank Orlando, the poll’s director, stated that Clinton’s lead looks “very secure.”

“She was winning by 14 points in Florida in our June poll, and she’s still winning by that margin after the conventions,” Orlando added. “The opportunities for Donald Trump to make up that distance are shrinking. … Absent an unprecedented movement toward Trump as a result of the debates, or more likely, an external shock to the system, she can safely put Florida in her column.”

According to Pew Research, 14.9 percent of registered voters in Florida are Hispanic.

In recent weeks, Donald Trump has begun courting minority voters. He spoke to a “vastly white crowd” in Ohio on Aug. 22, to make his case for the minority vote, notes The Washington Post.

Our government has totally failed our African American friends, our Hispanic friends and the people of our country. Period. … You can go to war zones in countries that we are fighting and it’s safer than living in some of our inner cities that are run by the Democrats. And I ask you this, I ask you this — crime, all of the problems — to the African Americans, [of whom] I employ so many, so many people, to the Hispanics, tremendous people: What the hell do you have to lose? Give me a chance. I’ll straighten it out. I’ll straighten it out. What do you have to lose?

Sources: Saint Leo University, The Washington Post, Pew Research Center / Photo credit: John Ehlke/GMToday.com