With two weeks left before Election Day, Republican Florida Governor Rick Scott leads incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Bill Nelson by less than two points in Florida’s critical U.S. Senate race, while Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum maintains a narrow lead over Republican nominee Ron DeSantis in the battle to be the state’s next governor, according to the statewide survey by the Florida Atlantic University Business and Economics Polling Initiative.
Since the last FAU survey five weeks ago, Scott has seen his lead increase slightly, from less than one point in September to 42.3% over Nelson’s 40.6% in this latest poll, with 13.1% undecided. The margin of error for the survey is +/- 3.6%.
Scott has a slight edge in overall job approval, with 42.9% of voters approving Scott’s performance as governor and 35.8% disapproving. Nelson’s performance as senator earned him a 36.4% approval and 34.7% disapproval.
In the gubernatorial race, Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, garnered 41.4% of the vote, while DeSantis, a former U.S. representative, has 36.7%, with 17.5% undecided.
A ban on assault weapons was supported by 42.7% of voters, while 33.6% oppose and 23.7% are undecided. Gun control policy again ranked fourth among the most important issues to voters in the upcoming election. Healthcare jumped to No. 1 among the most important issues with 30.8%, followed by immigration at 23.9%, the economy in general at 13%, and gun control policy at 10.3%.
When asked whose policies they believe are most responsible for the algae problem along Florida’s coasts, 35.3% of voters said Scott as governor is most responsible, while 19.9% said Nelson as U.S. Senator was most responsible, and 44.7% said they don’t know.
Party breakdown among the survey respondents was 37% Democrats, 35% Republicans and 28% Independents. The survey was conducted Oct. 18-21 and polled 704 Florida registered voters who said they are likely to vote.
