Gillum holds lead in latest UNF poll, Nelson maintains a slim advantage

by | Oct 30, 2018


A week out from election day, a new poll released Tuesday morning shows Andrew Gillum holding a 6-point lead over his opponent Ron DeSantis in the race for governor. The poll, which was conducted by the University of North Florida, also gives Bill Nelson a slim 1-point lead over Rick Scott in the contest for U.S. Senate.

The poll of likely Florida voters, shows that 49 percent of the those surveyed favor Democrat Gillum while 43 percent plan to vote for the Republican candidate, DeSantis. Seven percent of the voters remain undecided.

In the U.S. Senate race, the poll shows Democratic candidate Nelson holding a 47 percent to 46 percent lead, with 7 percent still undecided.

“Almost 3 million people have already voted, and Gillum is clearly leading in the gubernatorial race. The senate race with Nelson and Scott is neck and neck, and the few remaining undecided voters are going to play a pivotal role in the outcome,” said Michael Binder, faculty director of the Public Opinion Research Lab at UNF. “The big leads that both Gillum and Nelson have among NPA/Others highlights the importance of having the right amount of independents in your poll. Currently less than 18 percent of ballots cast have been by NPA/Others, we estimate that number will be 19 percent by November 6.”

The poll surveyed voters in some of the other major races on the ballot.

In the contest for attorney general, Ashley Moody holds a 47 percent to 40 percent lead over her Democratic opponent Sean Shaw, with 13 percent of the voters surveyed undecided.

“Moody appears to have a comfortable lead in the Attorney General race, but the Agricultural Commission race is much tighter. Fried has a small lead, but there are a lot of undecided voters in both of the lower information cabinet races,” Binder stated.

In the race for Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, 43 percent of likely voters plan to vote for Democrat Nikki Fried, 41 percent for Matt Caldwell, the Republican, and 17 percent don’t know.

The poll also gauged the mood of voters on Amendment 4 on the ballot, which would automatically restore voting rights to ex-felons once they have served their time. When asked whether they would vote “yes” or “no,” 69 percent of likely voters claimed they would vote “yes” on the proposition, with 23 percent voting “no.” Only 8 percent didn’t know how they would vote.

 

 

 

 

2 Comments

  1. Bobby Simpson

    Don’t believe this poll at all. Remember 2016 polls had Hillary with a commanding lead and shoe-in as president. Saw what happened in that race.

  2. Anonymous

    I hope the Democrats don’t get nothing all they won’t is socialism higher taxes taking their jobs away taking your raise away and Sanctuary cities that’s not the American way