Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
U.S. Rep. David Jolly is leading the pack in the race to replace Sen. Marco Rubio, according to a Florida Atlantic University poll.
Jolly is at 27.8 percent, polling ahead of Republican rivals Rep. U.S. Ron DeSantis and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, who are both at 7.7 percent. While Jolly has a 20-point lead over his opponents, the poll found 50 percent of respondents said they were undecided.
That is unsurprising. The primary is in August, and some Senate candidates have said they don’t think the race will heat up until after the state’s March 15 presidential preference primary.
On the Democratic side, Rep. Alan Grayson leads Rep. Patrick Murphy, 27.1 percent to 19.5 percent. Much like the Republican race, a large number of respondents — 45.4 percent — said they were undecided.
The Florida Atlantic University poll was conducted by phone from Jan. 15 through Jan. 18. The Democratic and Republican Senate primary surveys consisted of 371 and 345 registered likely primary voters and has a margin of error of 5.0 percent and 5.2 percent respectively.
