Poll shows Jason Pizzo led Daniella Levine Cava in Dem gubernatorial Primary, but he’s no longer running

Jason Pizzo, Danielle Levine Cava.

Before leaving the Democratic Party, state Sen. Jason Pizzo appeared in a strong position to win the party’s nomination for Governor. But now, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava holds a significant lead among contenders.

A poll from the James Madison Institute (JMI) showed Pizzo leading Democratic contenders for the statewide office. Asked about a Democratic Primary, about 42% of likely voters would vote for Pizzo, far outpacing the 15% backing Levine Cava. However, the poll was taken from April 15 to 22 and completed two days before Pizzo made a speech on the Senate floor resigning as caucus leader and declaring the “Democratic Party in Florida is dead.”

That prompted pollsters to take Pizzo out of new polling done by the Institute from May 5 to 7. At that point, Levine Cava leapt to 32% support.

But the Pizzo vote seemed to bleed to other candidates as well. Former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, a Panhandle Democrat and daughter of late Gov. Bob Graham, showed up in the May poll with 13% support. In April, she only polled at 5%. About 10% of Democratic Primary voters would support former U.S. Rep. David Jolly, according to the latest poll.

No other candidate broke 10%. About 7% would like to vote for former Florida Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book. An equal 7% would back current Florida House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell. About 6% support state Rep. Angie Nixon, while 4% back state Sen. Shevrin Jones. About 20% remained undecided.

The poll has a 2.77-percentage-point margin of error.

Following Pizzo’s exit from the Democratic Party to become an independent, pollsters also surveyed voters on the one-time Democratic front-runner’s favorability ratings. The poll found 22% of voters still hold a somewhat or very favorable view of Pizzo. That still includes 41% of Democrats surveyed, 14% of whom confess a “very favorable” view of the Senator.

Only 8% register an unfavorable rating of the former Democrat. About 35% of those surveyed say they remain unfamiliar with Pizzo.