The 2020 United States presidential election in Florida was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election, in which all 50 states and the District of Columbia participated. Florida voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, incumbent president Donald Trump, and his running mate, Vice President Mike Pence, against Democratic Party nominee, former vice president Joe Biden, and his running mate, United States senator Kamala Harris, of California. Florida had 29 electoral votes in the Electoral College.
Florida was one of seven states as well as Washington, D.C., where Trump received a greater percentage of the two-party vote than he did in 2016.
Miami Beach, Florida, which hosted the 1972 Democratic National Convention, was a finalist to host the 2020 Democratic National Convention. The other finalists were Milwaukee and Houston; Milwaukee was chosen. Florida was Trump's state of residency for this election; New York was his home state in 2016. Trump was the first nominee of either major party to be a Florida resident. Biden was selected as the Democratic nominee in the 2020 Florida Democratic presidential primary on March 17, 2020 also becoming the first former vice-president to run for president since Walter Mondale in 1984.
Before the election, aggregate polls had Biden in the lead in Florida by 1 to 3 percentage points. Despite this, Trump won by a 3.4-point margin, improving on his margin from 2016 by 2.2 points. This was the largest margin for any presidential election in Florida since 2004. The main reason was increased support for Trump among Latino voters in the state, particularly in Miami-Dade County, which Biden carried by 7.4 points, significantly less than Clinton's 29.4-point margin in 2016 and Obama's 23.7-point margin in 2012. Trump carried the Cuban vote with 56%, while Biden carried the Puerto Rican vote with 66%, and Trump and Biden split the South American vote with 50% each. Overall, Biden won 54% of Latinos.
In this election, Florida voted 7.8 points right of the nation as a whole, the furthest it has voted from the nation since 1988, when the state voted 14.6 points right of the national result. As of the 2024 presidential election, this was the only election in which Florida backed the losing candidate since 1992. Despite the overall rightward shift, Biden became the first Democrat since 1976 to win the heavily urbanized Duval County, historically a Republican stronghold and home to Jacksonville. Similarly, he became the first Democrat to win Seminole County since Harry Truman in 1948. Biden also became the first Democrat to be elected president without winning Florida since Bill Clinton in 1992.
Florida is one of only three states that voted twice for Barack Obama and thrice for Trump, the other two being Iowa and Ohio.
Primary election The primary elections were held on March 17, 2020.
Republican primary The Florida Secretary of State declared Rocky De La Fuente to be a major candidate and thus worthy of automatic inclusion on the ballot.
Democratic primary Three Democrats were still in the race by the time Florida held its primaries: Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, former vice president Joe Biden, and representative from Hawaii, Tulsi Gabbard.
The first Democratic debate took place in Miami over two nights at the end of June 2019. It was broadcast on several of the NBC networks.
General election
Final predictions SourceRankingThe Cook Political ReportInside ElectionsSabato's Crystal BallPoliticoRCPNiskanen2020 Bitecofer Model Electoral College Predictions , Niskanen Center, March 24, 2020, retrieved: April 19, 2020.CNNThe EconomistCBS News270towinABC NewsNPRNBC News538
Polling
Aggregate polls +Source of pollaggregationDatesadministeredDatesupdated JoeBiden DonaldTrumpOther/UndecidedMargin270 to Win270 to WinOctober 24 – November 1, 2020November 3, 202048.7%46.0%5.3%Biden +2.7Real Clear PoliticsReal Clear PoliticsOctober 28 – November 2, 2020November 3, 202047.9%47.0%5.1%Biden +0.9FiveThirtyEightFiveThirtyEightuntil November 2, 2020November 3, 202049.1%46.6%4.3%Biden +2.5Average48.6%46.5%4.9%Biden +2.1
State polls