Janelle Irwin Taylor
John Dingfelder has a solid lead over Stephen Lytle in the citywide Tampa City Council District 3 race. A St. Pete Polls survey released Tuesday puts Dingfelder over Lytle 54-26 percent with 22 percent of voters still undecided.
Dingfelder finished the March 5 municipal election with 49 percent of the vote, narrowly missing his chance to avoid a runoff. Lytle finished that race with 20 percent.
Nearly 63 percent of respondents supporting Dingfelder have already voted for him. Only 27 percent of Lytle’s supporters have already cast a ballot.
Dingfelder leads in every demographic including age, race and political affiliation.
His highest support comes from voters over 70. Of the 158 responses in that demographic, 60 percent indicated support for the former Tampa City Council member.
Lytle’s biggest support comes from young voters aged 18-29.
Joe Citro leads the citywide District 1 race over Walter Smith II. The poll shows Citro with 45 percent support over Smith’s 30 percent. Twenty-six percent of voters are still undecided in that race, according to the survey.
Smith is capturing the black vote. 56 percent of the 130 responses from the city’s African-American population support Smith. Only 21 percent support Citro. It’s the only demographic Smith leads.
More Democrats support Smith than Republicans. Only 21 percent of Republicans polled are backing smith compared to 37 percent of Democrats.
Citro’s support is higher among Republicans than it is with Democrats, 47 percent to 40 percent. Nearly 52 percent of independent voters polled support Citro.
Most of Citro’s supporters have already voted while votes cast for Smith compared to those yet to be cast are roughly equal.
St. Pete Polls did not include the East Tampa District 5 race between Orlando Gudes and Jeffrey Rhodes, which is also on the April 23 ballot.
Voting is already well underway in the Tampa races. As of Tuesday morning, voter turnout from mail ballots and early voting had already exceeded 12 percent. Voter turnout in March was just 20 percent.
