Debbie Mucarsel-Powell closes gap with Rick Scott to 2 points

A Democratic Senate hopeful can point to strong new polling against the Republican Senator she seeks to unseat.

In a survey released by Florida Atlantic University, former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is just 2 points behind U.S. Sen. Rick Scott among likely voters, 45% to 43%.

Among all voters, the spread is 4 points, at 44% for Scott to 40% for Mucarsel-Powell.

In either case, this contrasts very favorably for the South Florida Democrat with a previous poll by the same outfit that showed a 16-point race, and with a Florida Chamber of Commerce poll that showed a 15-point gap earlier this Summer.

“Mucarsel-Powell was largely unknown in earlier surveys,” said Luzmarina Garcia, an assistant professor of political science at FAU. “However, as voters have been introduced to her, she has been gaining in the race. If this trend holds, it could be close in November.”

“It’s no secret that Floridians are fed up with Rick Scott and his extreme policies – we’ve been hearing it from voters in every corner of the state for months,” said Campaign Manager Ben Waldon on behalf of the Mucarsel-Powell campaign.

“​​Today’s poll confirms what the Debbie For Florida campaign has known all along: the more Debbie Mucarsel-Powell travels the state and shows Florida voters what she stands for, the tighter this race will become. Pushing an extreme agenda to ban abortion, steal seniors’ Social Security benefits, and raise taxes on the middle class has consequences – something Rick Scott will learn when Florida voters retire him and elect Debbie Mucarsel-Powell this November.”

The poll sampled 883 Florida adults from Saturday, June 8, to Sunday, June 9, via interactive voice response and an online panel. Pollsters say that corresponds with a margin of error of approximately +/- 3.3 percentage points.

Yet despite there being more than 900,000 more Republicans than Democrats in Florida at this writing, 34 more Democrats were polled, with just 331 Republicans and 365 from the Democratic side. However, weighted responses reflect a GOP edge of 367 to 347.