View from the barber's chair: In Florida even blacks and Hispanics may be turning against Hillary Clinton

A rapid safari this week through a selection of barber shops and beauty parlours in central Florida suggests Hillary Clinton may be in deeper trouble in the crucial swing state than her campaign acknowledges, with her bulwark of support from minority voters showing unexpected cracks.

For both the candidates in the presidential race, taking Florida on election day is more or less vital. Concern in the Clinton campaign that she may fall short deepened on Monday after the release of a New York Times poll giving her an advantage of only 41 to 40 per cent in the state.

To test sentiment among voters, The Independent dropped by several salons – commercial confessionals where secrets, political and romantic, are often shared – along the I-4 corridor between Orlando and Tampa (named after the Interstate that links them). If Florida is a must-win for capturing the nation, this densely populated stretch is a must-win for capturing Florida.

Quizzed between the buzz of electric clippers and the hiss of compressed air clearing discarded locks and lashes on their voting intentions, black and Hispanic people were starkly divided, wth fewer saying they were sure to support Ms Clinton than indicating a preference for Donald Trump. Their reasons were varied, but almost all expressed the hope that he would be a “strong” leader.

Among them was Jerry, who, tending to a young patron at the Latino Barbershop in Lakeland, midway between Orlando and Tampa, has reason to be concerned. His cousin was among the victims at the mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando in July. He says that that, coupled with concerns he has over illegal immigrants not working for a living, makes him a Trump supporter.

“I think he deserves a chance to run this country,” Jerry, originally Puerto Rican, says of Mr Trump. “Look they put another bomb in New York. They doing something about it? Trump wants to do something about that. We need somebody stop that. People coming here and killing us.” He adds: “They killed my cousin. My cousin was a good person, he didn’t fight with nobody.”

But at Chacalitos, another Hispanic barbers across the street, Mike, an African American with a complete row of gold front teeth, marvels that anyone could support the New York billionaire. "He's an idiot, look at how he carries himself. You can't take him seriously, he don't stand for nothing." A convicted felon, Mike is barred from voting. But if he could, he wouldn't be supporting Ms Clinton either. "She sucks too," he says.

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The New York Times poll had Mr Trump trouncing Ms Clinton among white voters of all education levels in the Sunshine State. To stave him off, therefore, Ms Clinton must sustain overwhelming margins with blacks and Hispanics. It’s why she will be campaigning in the Orlando area, where there is an especially large Puerto Rican population, on Wednesday. She will also try to stanch the bleeding among white voters, including retirees and white women. It could be difficult.

Take Betty – she, like others interviewed, gave only one name – a customer at Salon 720 in Celebration, an upscale township created by Disney where hanging moss on the trees is the closest thing to litter. She also cites the recent bombs in New York as she speaks up for Mr Trump.

“Trump is the only one who has brains and we need a change,” she declares, fresh from one of her twice-weekly hair-dos and stints under the dryer. “If America ever needed a change it’s right now. Trump, Trump, Trump. He is a guy who doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink and he doesn’t lie.”

“Hillary? Take her off the face of the Earth,” she hisses, looking across to another customer – also white but younger – who nods in agreement. “She doesn’t need to be there. She is a liar. She has taken everything she can from us. Immigration needs to be taken care of, everything needs to be taken care of in these United States. We are pitiful.”

Of course, support for Ms Clinton among black and Hispanic voters is still significant. In nearby Kissimmee at the Hall of Fame salon, Jose, whose parents came to America from Cuba and Puerto Rico, leads a team of Hispanic barbers who are almost united – but not quite – in wanting to support the former First Lady. And he could never imagine giving his vote to Mr Trump.

“I think he is a scumbag,” Jose insists, tidying around the ears of the day's first customer. “I really think he is a scumbag from the bottom of my heart, I don’t think he is a good person. He is a good business guy because he scammed his way to being as rich as he is.”

Deeper inside the salon a co-worker, also called Jose, argues that Mr Trump’s business experience doesn't mean he'd make a good president. “You wouldn’t bring a client to mechanic shop to get a hair cut. And as a barber I wouldn’t try to be full-blown mechanic. He might be a billionaire, he may know the business aspects of things but as far as running the country, I will go with Hillary Clinton.”

But even in this shop, consensus around Ms Clinton is missing. Another barber with a heavy beard and tattoos on his neck, Mike, pipes up that Mr Trump would more effectively fight Isis. “Bomb ‘em all. Have got to bomb ‘em man. People on the other side in the Middle East, they gotta go," he blurts, with a face of mild embarrassment, before going on to say, as Mr Trump does, that illegal immigrants must leave the country,. “People can’t just come to this country and just live here."

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Nor is Ms Clinton much loved at Relax on the southern edge of Orlando, which has a mostly black clientele. Billy Baptiste, the chief barber, cites the disarray in his native Haiti as reason not to vote for her. “Those people they messed Haiti, those Clinton people, there are the ones that messed up Haiti.” He concedes he couldn’t vote for Mr Trump either, however, because of his rhetoric on immigration.

“Imagine the Prime Minister of England saying, you know what, I want all the Arab people in England to go back. Come on man, you can’t do that.” His solution: to not vote at all this time and hope for a better choice in four years time.

HIs customer, Slevin Bruno, who is also African American, is also dismissive of the Democrat. “She is a traitor,” he says. Meanwhile, Jameson Fleurent, awaiting his turn in Jose’s chair, offers that it is Ms Clinton’s gender that is the problem. “She is a woman. No, God don’t like that,” he explains. “I voted Obama, but not Hillary Clinton. God don’t like that - a woman at the top.”

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At Hairs To You, a simple African American barbers on a busy street corner in East Tampa, its owner, Lord, professes to have no interest in the election, even if CNN is playing on the screen above him talking about almost nothing but. Slowly, though, he gets voluble on the topic. He voted for Mr Obama before, but will not be doing so for Ms Clinton.

“You have got to look at the world. Who is better qualified to make the economy better? The only way to know you’re standing up, you got to fall down, you know. Donald Trump done a lot of falling down and a lot of standing up. Experience. Even though Donald Trump might be who he is, but as far as making the economy I think he is more qualified. That’s what people want.”

When Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney in Florida four years ago, it was by an average of just six voters per precinct across the state. Ms Clinton’s campaign believes she can similarly just about keep Mr Trump at bay in spite of his wide lead among whites, if they can get the black and Hispanic communities to turn out to vote to vote in large enough numbers.

But if it turns out they are as susceptible to the Trump siren songs of strength against terror and untold business acumen, then even that won't be enough to save her.