Florida voters express distrust of pre-election polls

Several polls had Biden turning Florida blue, which did not happen

Elections results versus pre-election polls are two very different showings.

Several polls had former Vice President Joe Biden winning the election and even him turning Florida blue.

While we still do not know the winner of the 2020 presidential election, we know Florida did not go blue.

So do voters believe polls?

News4Jax spoke with a Republican and a Democrat voter, both of whom said they have never been polled. Both also said they are hesitant to believe pollsters, as it appears they were off the mark.

One day after Election Day, Judy Crews was busy pruning her Clay Hill yard.

“This has been, since the pandemic, our saving grace," she said.

The 70-year-old said it’s something for her to do, while the results of the election are still not known.

“It’s just trying to make sense of all this," Crews said.

This includes the results to many pre-election polls. Crews said she believes some polls were intentionally misleading.

“They didn’t want him to win, so they hid it from everybody, and so then it got to be where people would think, ‘Well, if Biden is going to win, why should I waste my time going down and voting?’ But, instead, I would like to think we, the silent majority, went and voted even more to make sure our vote and voice would be heard," Crews said. “I was expecting a big red wave like they were expecting their big blue wave.”

Ivette Santiago lives on Jacksonville’s Westside.

“A little surprised, but not too much, because you have a lot of Republicans here that support [President Donald] Trump," Santiago said.

She also noted how the results are not the same.

“It is different from the polls projected,” Santiago said.

Florida is a battleground state that some polls anticipated could flip from red to blue. As we know, that did not happen, but some counties did, such as Duval, Seminole and Pinellas. Biden underperformed in some counties, including Broward, Miami-Dade, Osceola, Palm Beach, Putnam, Baker and Union.

It shows Americans' voices are being heard through their votes -- not polls.


About the Author:

Zachery “Zach” Lashway anchors KPRC 2+ Now. He began at KPRC 2 as a reporter in October 2021.