A new poll finds U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., ahead of U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., in the Democratic primary to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in 2016 but many Democrats remain undecided. Rubio is running for the Republican presidential nomination and is not seeking a second term in the Senate.
St. Pete Polls took a survey for St. PetersBlog which shows Grayson out front. Grayson takes 30 percent while Murphy pulls 23 percent. Attorney Pam Keith lags behind the two congressmen with 8 percent. But many Democrats are not behind any of those contenders with 17 percent saying they support other candidates while 22 percent are unsure of who they are supporting in the primary.
The poll shows Grayson is the best known of the three Democratic contenders with 38 percent of Democrats viewing him as favorable while 19 percent see him as unfavorable. But more than two-fifths of Democrats -- 43 percent -- are not sure what they think of Grayson.
A slim majority of those surveyed -- 51 percent -- are not sure about Murphy. More than a third of Florida Democrats -- 34 percent -- see Murphy in a favorable light while 15 percent view him as unfavorable.
Keith is the most unknown of the three contenders and she is upside down with Florida Democrats. Two-thirds of those surveyed -- 67 percent -- are not sure of Keith while 15 percent view her as favorable and 18 percent see her as unfavorable.
The poll shows Grayson doing well in his home base of Orlando while Murphy runs strong in West Palm Beach and Miami is all knotted up.
The poll of 1,018 likely Democratic primary voters was taken on July 15 and had a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
