Another public poll is showing Andrew Gillum ahead of Ron DeSantis in the Florida gubernatorial race.
Gillum, the Democratic option for voters in November, is up on Republican DeSantis by 4 percentage points, according to the survey released on Monday from the University of North Florida.
The lead is narrowly outside the poll’s near-4 percent margin of error. In total, 47 percent of the 605 likely voters went for Gillum, DeSantis 43 percent. Ten percent did not know who they’d pick.
All public, post-primary surveys of the race have consistently shown Gillum ahead. A Rasmussen poll released last week gave the Tallahassee mayor a 6 percent edge on DeSantis, Gillum’s biggest yet. Another poll from Florida Atlantic University released last week had the race much closer, with Gillum up just 2 points on DeSantis.
“It’s still early in the election season, and even though Gillum has a small lead a lot can happen in the next 6 weeks,” noted Dr. Michael Binder, who leads the UNF polling outfit.
Both candidates show strong support among likely party voters. Of the 234 Democrats surveyed, 85 percent favored Gillum, with just 6 percent choosing DeSantis. Likewise, DeSantis carried 81 percent support from GOP voters. But Gillum performed slightly better with voters across the aisle, grabbing 11 percent support from Republicans surveyed.
Gillum also holds a notable lead among the 117 nonparty affiliates sampled, up 13 percent on DeSantis. Although 19 percent indicated they did not know who they’d pick if the election were today.
The poll was conducted Sept. 17-19 using live calls.
