The presidential election is down to the wire the day before Election Day in Florida and the final poll before Election Day shows Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump too close to call.
The Quinnipiac University poll, release Monday, shows Clinton with an ever-so-slight lead over Trump, taking 46 percent to Trump’s 45 percent -- which means anything goes come Tuesday.
Three percent of voters go for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson while 1 percent said they supported Green Party candidate Jill Stein, numbers which have remained unchanged from a similar poll released last week.
Quinnipiac also surveyed North Carolina in the poll, which had similar results.
"After hundreds of millions of dollars and untold man-hours, and woman-hours, of campaigning, it would be fitting if the entire country broke into a chorus of "It's beginning to look like 2000," in the two states that matter most - Florida and North Carolina," said assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll Peter Brown.
"As the 2016 presidential race hits the finish line, both Florida and North Carolina are virtual ties with Hillary Clinton at 46 percent in Florida and 47 percent in North Carolina and Donald Trump at 45 percent in each state," Brown added.
Clinton has slightly more support among Florida voters who have already cast their ballots. Forty-seven percent of voters are with her while 43 percent of voters who have already cast their ballots said they are with Trump.
Independent likely voters are split almost even, with 45 percent for Clinton and 44 percent for Trump. Trump leads 86-7 percent among Republicans, while Clinton takes Democrats 85-10 percent.
"There is no realistic scenario under which Trump can win the White House without those two states, while Clinton might get there without them, but it's not a road she wants to travel. While neither of these states is likely to be as close as the 548 votes in Florida that decided the 2000 election, both states could keep the country up counting ballots well into Wednesday morning and perhaps beyond."
When it comes to the Florida Senate race, Marco Rubio has continued his lead over his Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy. Rubio took 48 percent in the poll while Murphy took 46 percent.
Rubio tends to fare better with independent likely voters, taking a 55 to 39 percent lead over Murphy.
Those numbers could spell out bad news for Murphy, who desperately needs support among women and non-white voters to beat Rubio Tuesday. Women are currently split between the two candidates, 46 - 46 while Murphy leads with non-white voters, 61 to 33 percent.
"U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy is not getting the support a Democrat needs among women and non-white voters to overcome Sen. Marco Rubio's lead among men and white voters," Brown said.
The Quinnipiac University poll of 884 likely Florida voters was conducted November 3 - 6 and has a margin of error of +/- 3.3 percentage points.
The election is Tuesday.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
