With six months to go, Florida voters are unsure of who they want to replace Marco Rubio in the Senate, a new poll shows.
Quinnipiac University released a poll on Tuesday which shows a large segment of voters--more than 20 percent--remain undecided in the Senate race. Many voters are in the dark on the major contenders in the Senate race.
“The Florida U.S. Senate race is wide open with none of the seven candidates particularly well-known to voters,” said Peter Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac University poll.
Patrick Murphy does better against the various Republican candidates than his Democratic primary rival and fellow congressman Alan Grayson does in the poll. Murphy does best when Carlos Beruff is the Republican candidate, leading 38 percent to 32 percent. When matched against Todd Wilcox, Murphy pulls 38 percent while the Republican takes 33 percent. Against Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, Murphy leads 38 percent to 34 percent. With Congressman David Jolly as the Republican candidate, Murphy is ahead 37 percent to 34 percent. Congressman Ron DeSantis runs closest but Murphy eeks out a lead, 37 percent to 36 percent.
The Republicans do better when Grayson is the Democratic candidate. DeSantis leads Grayson 38 percent to 36 percent. Both Jolly and Wilcox take 37 percent against Grayson who garners 35 percent against those two Republicans. Lopez-Cantera and Grayson tie with 37 percent apiece. Grayson does edge Beruff 36 percent to 35 percent.
Despite being the only Republican who trails Grayson and the one who does the worst against Murphy, Brown said to keep an eye on Beruff.
"The Florida U.S. Senate race features a candidate who appears to be using Gov. Rick Scott's playbook,” Brown said on Tuesday. “Scott came from nowhere and won the governor's chair with a campaign arguing that his outsider status and business experience made him a better choice. Businessman Carlos Beruff reportedly has invested $1 million in television ads introducing himself to voters and at this stage is polling roughly as well as the other four GOP candidates.”
The poll of 1,051 Florida voters was taken from April 27 through May 8 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.
