Scott Powers
A new poll from Univision Noticias and The Washington Post shows U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy leading the Democrats’ U.S. Senate race, confirming a similar result found in another poll this week.
The new survey, published by those two media outlets, gives Murphy, of Jupiter, 36 percent and U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson of Orlando 29 percent.
It follows a poll commissioned and published by News 13 of Orlando and Bay News 9 of Tampa Bay this week that showed Murphy, of Jupiter, leading the Democrats’ race with 27 percent, compared with 16 percent for Grayson, 11 percent for labor lawyer Pam Keith of Palm Beach Gardens, 15 percent for “other” and 31 percent undecided.
The News 13/Bay News 9 poll was the first in a while that had Murphy on top. It also was the first poll to show Keith in double-digits.
With the release of the second survey, Murphy’s campaign released a statement pointing out that they show the effects of recent news critical of Grayson’s hedge fund management, and of Murphy’s endorsements by President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
The Univision/Washington Post poll did not list Keith. Wednesday’s release also did not report results on Republican races.
The organizations surveyed 450 Democratic voters in the state between March 2 and Friday, with a results margin of error of 4.6 percent.
Grayson’s campaign dismissed the surveys as inconsistent with others in recent weeks.
The new survey also found what most others have been reporting, recently, that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a commanding lead over U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont heading into Tuesday’s Florida presidential preference primary. Clinton leads 64 percent to 26 percent, according to the survey.
On issues, the poll found Democrats picking the economy and jobs as their top concern (64 percent); opposing the idea, put forth by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump of banning Muslims from entering the United States (80 percent); in favor of the U.S. Senate voting on a Supreme Court nomination to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia (78 percent); strongly approving of Obama’s announced intention to visit Cuba soon (87 percent); and divided on whether to end the “wet-foot, dry-foot” immigration policy that allows Cuban migrants to remain in the U.S. when fleeing the island if they reach American soil (46 percent yes, 42 percent no).
