Sunshine State News Poll: Bill Nelson 49%, Connie Mack 44%

A new Sunshine State News poll shows incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson holds a 5-percentage-point lead over Republican challenger U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV, 49 to 44 percent, just as early voting begins and the race moves into its final days.

The battle now shifts to the remaining 7 percent of undecideds, the bulk of whom live along the Central Florida Interstate-4 corridor.

Nelson, the Democrat from Orlando, claims advantages for his social and entitlement stances, while Mack, the Naples Republican, holds the upper hand on jobs and the economy, according to a poll conducted by Harrisburg, Pa.-Voter Survey Service.

The poll of 1,001 likely Florida voters, conducted Oct. 22-24, gave Nelson -- who first entered Congress in 1979 -- a 45 percent favorable rating.However, he also was seen unfavorably by 42 percent of those contacted.

Mack, who has been the target of constant negative advertising since entering a contentious GOP primary field, is seen favorably by 33 percent of those polled and unfavorably by 48 percent.

VSS President Jim Lee said that while Mack could close the gap through the undecided count -- the survey has a 3.1 percent margin of error -- the public perception may be too difficult to overcome.

Read the full story in Sunshine State News now.