Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
Greg Steube is walloping his Senate District 23 opponent, but a new poll indicates both men still appear to be relatively unknown.
A new St. Pete Polls survey shows Steube has a 9-point lead over Democrat Frank Alcock. The survey — conducted for FloridaPolitics.com — found Steube leads Alcock, 45 percent to 36 percent. Nearly 19 percent of respondents said they were undecided.
The automated poll of 1,070 likely voters was conducted on Oct. 11. It has a margin of error of 3 percent.
Steube beat out four other Republicans in August to snatch the SD 23 nomination. First elected to the Florida House in 2010, the Sarasota Republican is the son of Manatee County Sheriff Brad Steube.
But despite being a long-time public figure, Southwest Florida voters don’t seem to have much of an opinion about Steube. According to the poll, 54 percent of respondents said they were “unsure” about their opinion of the state lawmaker. About 23 percent of respondents had a favorable opinion; while 23 percent said they had an unfavorable opinion.
Alcock also appears to be unknown, with more than 70 percent of respondents saying they were unsure of their opinion of the Sarasota Democrat. The survey found 18 percent had a favorable opinion of him, compared to 11 percent that had an unfavorable view.
Both men are vying to replace Sen. Nancy Detert in the Florida Senate.
The St. Pete Polls survey also looked at how presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were faring in SD 23.
According to the poll, Trump leads Clinton, 50 percent to 41 percent. Libertarian Gary Johnson is at 3 percent, compared to 1 percent for Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Nearly 5 percent of respondents said they were unsure.
