The turnaround: Rick Scott leads Bill Nelson by 2 in new FAU poll

In the Bill Nelson, Rick Scott race for U.S. Senate, polls are all over the map.

The newest numbers from the Florida Atlantic University Business and Economics Polling Initiative (FAU BEPI) show Republican Gov. Rick Scott ahead by just shy of 2 points in his efforts to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen Bill Nelson.

Scott pulled in just over 42 percent support, according to the new survey, whereas Nelson was sitting at a little under 41 percent support.

A total of 13 percent said they were undecided, with 4 percent saying they would vote for someone else entirely.

The FAU BEPI poll was conducted Oct. 18-21 and sampled 704 likely voters. It contains a margin of error of 3.6 percentage points.

Scott’s position is slightly improved from the previous poll conducted by FAU BEPI. That survey showed Scott with a lead of less than a percentage point over Nelson.

The university also asked voters who is to blame over the state’s recent algae problem. Overall, voters gave more of the blame to Scott, with 35 percent saying the Governor was responsible. Just 20 percent blamed Nelson, with 45 percent saying they didn’t know.

“Perhaps holding Scott back is the algae problem in the state,” said Monica Escaleras, director of the BEPI. “Voters are nearly twice as likely to blame him as they are Nelson.”

Scott did pull in better favorable numbers than Nelson, however, with 43 percent of voters approving of his job as Governor and 36 percent disapproving.

For Nelson, 36 percent approved of his work in the Senate, while 35 percent disapproved.

Health care was listed as the most important issue for voters, with 31 percent rating it at the top of their list. In second was immigration at 24 percent, followed by the economy at 13 percent.