Rick Scott Tops Alex Sink in New Rasmussen Poll

In the first poll since the primary election night earlier this week, Rick Scott has taken a 5 percent lead over Democrat Alex Sink. Scott garnered 41 percent of likely voters in the state, while Sink earned 36 percent. Independent candidate Bud Chilesreceived only 8 percent.

The numbers suggest Scott may not have been beaten up in a nasty Republican primary as much as pundits had predicted.

With more than two months to go before the general election, Rasmussen ranks this race as a tossup.

From Rasmussen Reports:

When leaners are included in the new totals, the race is even tighter, with Scott barely ahead of Sink 45% to 42%. Chiles support drops to four percent (4%). This suggests that the Florida contest could follow the general pattern of three-way races with support drifting away from the third-party candidate toward one of the major party nominees as Election Day approaches.

Leaners are those who initially indicate no preference for either of the candidates but answer a follow-up question and say they are leaning toward a particular candidate. Early in any campaign, the numbers without leaners are generally more significant. Later in a campaign, the numbers with leaners matter more. After Labor Day, Rasmussen Reports will report the numbers with leaners as the primary indicators of the campaign.

The survey of 750 likely voters in Florida was conducted on Aug. 25 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.