Floridians are in the dark on who they want as the Sunshine State’s next governor, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University.
Asked who they want the next governor to be, 45 percent of Florida voters said a Democrat and 37 percent said a Republican while 3 percent said neither and 14 percent are not sure.
One problem. Most voters have no idea who the major candidates are.
"In the governor's race, none of the candidates is well-known,” Peter Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said on Tuesday. “Florida voters can expect massive - and probably nasty - TV advertising as the candidates for governor try to introduce themselves, and their opponents, to the electorate.”
Philip Levine is the best known of the Democrats in the race but 81 percent of those surveyed don’t know enough about him to have an opinion while 12 percent view him favorably and 7 percent see him as unfavorable. Gwen Graham is seen as favorable by 10 percent and unfavorable by 5 percent while 84 percent don’t know enough about her. Andrew Gillum is seen as favorable by 7 percent and unfavorable by 3 percent while 89 percent don’t know enough about him. Chris King is the most unknown Democrat in the race with 93 percent saying they don’t know enough about him to have an opinion while 3 percent see him favorable and 3 percent see him unfavorably.
Now finishing his second term as agriculture commissioner, Republican Adam Putnam is seen as favorable by 15 percent and unfavorable by 10 percent while 75 percent don’t know enough about him. Voters are also in the dark on Ron DeSantis as 11 percent see him favorably, 6 percent see him unfavorably and 83 percent don’t know enough about. However, DeSantis is seen as favorable by 22 percent of Florida Republicans while only 3 percent view him unfavorably. That’s in the same ballpark as Putnam who is seen as favorable by 23 percent of Florida Republicans and unfavorable by 3 percent of them. State House Speaker Richard Corcoran is considering jumping in on the Republican side and he is seen as favorable by 4 percent of all voters and unfavorable by 9 percent while 86 percent of those surveyed don’t know enough about him .
The poll of 1,156 Florida voters was taken from Feb. 23 through Feb. 26 and had a margin of error of +/- 3.6 percent.
