Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
With two weeks until Election Day, Majority Leader Dana Young continues to lead Democrat Bob Buesing in Senate District 18.
A new poll by St. Pete Polls, conducted for FloridaPolitics.com, showed nearly 39 percent of likely voters were backing Young, compared to 34 percent backing Buesing. Joe Redner, an independent candidate, received 15 percent support. More than 9 percent of respondents said they were still undecided, while 3 percent said they were backing Sheldon Upthegrove.
The automated poll of 950 Florida likely voters was conducted on Oct. 25. It has a margin of error of 3.2 percent.
The poll showed 32 percent of independent voters and 59 percent of Republican voters were backing Young. She also received support from about 22 percent of Democrats.
Buesing received the backing of 49 percent of Democrats and 37 percent of independent voters. The poll found 17 percent of Republicans backed Buesing.
The new poll is in line with a similar one conducted by St. Pete Polls earlier this month. That poll, conducted Oct. 11, found 38 percent of voters in the district were backing Young, compared to 32 percent backing Buesing. Redner received 16 percent support in the Oct. 11 poll.
The Senate District 18 race is one of a handful of closely watched races this election cycle, and could be considered a swing district.
In 2010, 44 percent of registered voters were Republicans and 39 percent of registered voters were Democrats. Two years later, records show 39 percent of registered voters were Democrats, while 38 percent were registered Republicans. The share of independent voters in the district increased to about 23 percent in 2014, from about 16 percent in 2012.
