With more than a year to go in the race to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., around a third of Florida voters remain undecided between some of the candidates. Rubio is currently running for the Republican presidential nomination and has said he will not run for a second term in the Senate.
Quinnipiac University unveiled a poll Thursday morning that matches potential Democratic challengers U.S. Reps. Alan Grayson and Patrick Murphy against Republican hopefuls U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera. The poll did not include other candidates, including Republican hopefuls U.S. Rep. David Jolly and businessman Todd Wilcox and, on the Democratic side, attorney Pam Keith.
Murphy takes 37 percent when matched up against Lopez-Cantera who garners 29 percent, with the rest of the voters up for grabs. Both candidates do well with their party’s bases with 73 percent of Democrats behind Murphy and 63 percent of Republicans supporting Lopez-Cantera. But voters outside the major parties are in play as 29 percent are for Murphy, 25 percent for Lopez-Cantera and the rest still undecided.
Lopez-Cantera does better against Grayson but still trails 35 percent to 32 percent. Grayson has 70 percent of Democrats behind him while Lopez-Cantera pulls 64 percent of Republicans. Lopez-Cantera leads with voters outside the major parties 32 percent to 28 percent with the rest on the fence.
Matched against DeSantis, Murphy is ahead 37 percent to 30 percent. Murphy pulls in 73 percent of Democrats while 67 percent of Republicans are for DeSantis. Voters outside the major parties are in play as 29 percent go for Murphy, 25 percent break for DeSantis and the others are undecided.
Grayson takes 37 percent and DeSantis gets 31 percent when paired against each other. DeSantis gets 67 percent of Republicans while Grayson reels in 74 percent of Democrats. Grayson takes 31 percent of voters outside the major parties while 27 percent are for DeSantis and the rest are undecided.
The poll of 1,173 Florida voters was taken Sept. 25-Oct. 5 and had a margin of error of +/- 2.9 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
