Associated Press
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
WASHINGTON — Voters in Florida's Republican primary Tuesday mirrored those in other early voting states, with nearly half saying the most important quality a candidate can have is the ability to defeat President Barack Obama in November, according to early results from an exit poll of voters.
Florida Republican voters also expressed pain regarding the state's weak economy and housing foreclosure crisis, as well as divisions over what to do about illegal immigration, according to the exit poll.
There was also a restlessness about their party's presidential field, with fewer than 6 in 10 saying they were satisfied with the candidates. Younger voters tended to be less pleased than older voters with the current crop of contenders.
Even so, about 4 in 10 voters said they had chosen their candidates more than a month ago, a greater proportion than in Iowa, New Hampshire or South Carolina, the three other states that have already held their GOP presidential contests this year.
About 3 in 10 Florida voters said they are falling behind financially, more than in New Hampshire or South Carolina. The question wasn't asked of Iowa's voters. Nearly 6 in 10 said they are holding their own.
Half said home foreclosures are a major problem in their communities, reflecting the state's status as one of the hardest-hit in the nation by a glut of homeowners who have lost their mortgages.
Overall, 6 in 10 said Tuesday that the economy was the issue that mattered most in choosing a candidate. About a quarter cited the huge federal budget deficits.
In a state in which Census Bureau data show that almost 1 in 4 residents is of Hispanic origin, more than a third of GOP voters Tuesday said illegal immigrants should be given a chance to become U.S. citizens. The rest were about evenly divided: Some said those immigrants should be allowed to stay as temporary workers, and others said they should be shipped back to their home countries.
About 1 in 7 of those voting Tuesday was Hispanic — making Florida the first of the four states that have cast ballots so far in which the electorate wasn't virtually all white.
Underscoring Florida's reputation as a retirement haven, nearly 4 in 10 voters were older than 65, a higher share than in the three other states that have already voted. About 7 in 10 said they consider themselves conservative.
The survey of 1,979 Republican voters was conducted for the Associated Press and television networks by Edison Research. It included preliminary results among 1,379 voters interviewed Tuesday as they left their polling places at 40 randomly selected sites in Florida. In addition, 600 who voted early or absentee were interviewed by landline or cellular telephone from Jan. 23 to 29. The survey had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.