A new poll shows Florida is going down to the wire as the Sunshine State gets ready to choose a new governor and take sides in an important U.S. Senate contest as the Republicans have made up ground.
A CNN/SSRS poll of likely voters released on Thursday shows U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., with a narrow lead over Republican challenger Gov. Rick Scott with the Democrat ahead 49 percent to 47 percent. With only a handful of days left in the election, 91 percent of Nelson voters and the same percentage of Scott supporters say their minds are made up on who they are voting for. A CNN/SSRS poll taken from Oct. 16 through Oct. 20 had Nelson out front 49 percent to 45 percent.
Nelson is seen as favorable by 47 percent while 38 percent see him as unfavorable. Scott is seen as favorable by 48 percent while 45 percent view him unfavorably.
The new poll shows a close contest in the gubernatorial race with Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, the Democratic nominee, ahead of former U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., 49 percent to 48 percent. This is a major change from the CNN/SSRS poll taken from Oct. 16 through Oct. 20 which had Gillum up 54 percent to 42 percent, a margin which was an outlier compared to other polls.
The overwhelming majority of voters--92 percent of Gillum supporters and 91 percent of DeSantis backers--say their minds are made up in the gubernatorial contest.
Gillum is seen as favorable by 48 percent while 38 percent see him as unfavorable. DeSantis is seen as favorable by 46 percent while 39 percent see him as unfavorable.
Asked what the most important issues are, 26 percent of likely voters in Florida say healthcare followed by the economy at 24 percent, immigration at 18 percent, national security at 12 percent and gun policy at 10 percent.
President Donald Trump has the approval of 47 percent while 49 percent disapprove of him.
The poll of 781 likely voters in Florida was taken from Oct 24 through Oct 29 and had a margin of error of +/-4.3 percent.
