Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
Dana Young holds a slight lead over Bob Buesing. But with three months until Election Day, the Senate District 18 race remains one to watch.
A new survey by St. Pete Polls found Young leads Buesing by about 4 points. The survey — commissioned by FloridaPolitics.com and conducted July 27 — found 35 percent of likely voters said they would vote for Young if the general election was held today. About 31 percent of voters said they would pick Buesing.
The survey found 16 percent of respondents said they would back Joe Redner, while nearly 6 percent picked Sheldon Upthegrove. Nearly 12 percent of respondents said they were still undecided.
The tight race is what makes the Senate District 18 race interesting. The newly drawn district is considered a swing district, President Barack Obama narrowly won the district in 2012, which includes Lutz, MacDill Air Force Base, and South Tampa.
Young, the House majority leader, may be well-known in the capital city, but voters in the district don’t seem to know much about her. Nearly 65 percent of respondents said they were unsure when asked whether they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the Tampa Republican. The survey found 17 percent said they had a favorable opinion of Young, while 18 percent said they an unfavorable opinion of her.
Buesing doesn’t fare much better. The survey found 76 percent of respondents said they were unsure when asked whether they had a favorable opinion of the Tampa Democrat. About 11 percent of respondents said they had a favorable opinion of Buesing, while 13 percent said they had an unfavorable opinion of him.
The poll of 699 likely Florida voters has a margin of error of 3.7 percent.
