Bush, Rubio More Trustworthy Than Clinton, Florida Voters Say

Florida voters find both Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush more honest than their Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, but that doesn’t mean the Republicans would take the state if the presidential election were staged right now.

That’s according to the latest Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll that focused in on Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The university targets these states in particular since no presidential candidate has taken the White House since 1960 without winning at least two of the three.

In Florida, Quinnipiac’s pollsters say the race between Clinton and Rubio is especially close at this point. She led the poll with a 47 percent edge to Sen. Rubio’s 44. Going up against former Gov. Jeb Bush, she gets 47 percent to Bush’s 42 percent.

About 39 percent of Florida voters told pollsters that being honest and trustworthy is the most important quality they look for in a candidate. In this regard, Clinton didn’t fare so well. Floridians say Clinton isn’t very honest, with 51 percent telling pollsters that. Sixty-one percent, however, say she’s a strong leader and about 48 percent say she cares about voters’ needs and problems.

In the honesty department, Bush leads with a 52 percent trustworthiness rating given by Florida voters. Rubio bests Clinton, as well, with 50 percent saying he is honest and trustworthy.

“Secretary Clinton continues to out-poll most major Republican wannabes in the Sunshine State,” Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac Poll, was quoted in a media release as saying. “She holds her own when matched against the GOP’s two native sons, former Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio. The margin stems from her ability to keep the gender gap running in her favor. She holds low double digit leads among women when matched against either man and that is enough to make the difference.”

Even so, Brown says voters’ perceptions of Clinton could be problematic down the road. Her low scores in the honesty department could be troubling, he said, but “potentially more disturbing for her are low marks for caring about voter needs and problems,” Brown said. “This is where Democrats almost always fare better than Republicans. Yet in this survey many Republican candidates do as well or better than does she.”

The poll was conducted between June 4 – 15 and involved 1,147 Florida voters.

To check out the complete results, visit Quinnipiac online.