TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A new poll by the Florida Chamber of Commerce suggests nearly one in three voters this election cycle won’t be your typical voters.
Restaurant owner Pam Buchanan is one of those voters who surprised pollsters two years ago.
Recommended Videos
She registered and cast her first vote ever for now-President Donald Trump.
She’s still a staunch supporter.
“He is our president," Buchanan said. "I don’t care if you like him or not, you need to show that man some respect."
The new poll suggests 30 percent of the people who vote this cycle will be either new voters or those who vote infrequently.
Most will be motivated, one way or the other, by their perception of Trump.
“The 30 percent are not your traditional voters,” said Andrew Wiggins, with the Florida Chamber of Commerce. "The ones who turned out in '16 who had not turned out before (was) because of energy in the race. Was it a little bit Donald Trump? Yes. It was also a little bit of anti-Donald Trump.”
The Chamber says Trump was the major factor Tuesday in the Georgia GOP runoff for governor. It was won by a gun-toting Brian Kemp.
“Two things if you're going to date one of my daughters: Respect and a healthy appreciation for the Second Amendment, sir,” Kemp said in a campaign advertisement.
"The sitting secretary of state took out the sitting lieutenant governor based upon being mobilized with the Trump endorsement,” Wiggins said.
Contrary to pollsters conventional wisdom, Buchanan won’t be voting this election.
Her reason: Trump isn’t on the ballot.
"I don’t listen to it enough to make an opinion, so it would be wrong for me to vote,” Buchanan said.
A county map compiled by the chamber shows no party leading the new registrations in most of the counties, with the GOP increasing the most in North Florida.
Democrats won the registration battle in only two counties.
Since the 2016 election, 704,439 voters have registered in Florida.
Chamber data also shows young people are registering to vote, but not at a pace much larger than they did two years ago.