Three weeks to go and a batch of new polls show Florida can expect a close gubernatorial contest, raising the stakes for Wednesday night’s and next week’s debates as the race enters the final stretch.
On Monday, St. Pete Polls unveiled a survey on behalf of SaintPetersBlog, which shows Gov. Rick Scott with the narrowest of leads, holding off Democratic challenger former Gov. Charlie Crist, 44 percent to 43 percent. Libertarian Adrian Wyllie takes 8 percent, while 5 percent are still undecided.
When the 5 percent who are undecided are asked if they have a preference, the numbers barely move. In that scenario, Scott moves up to 45 percent while Crist remains on his heels with 44 percent. Wyllie stays with 8 percent.
Both Scott and Crist are upside down in the poll. Scott is seen as favorable by 41 percent of those surveyed while 51 percent see him as unfavorable. Crist is seen as unfavorable by 52 percent of those surveyed while 40 percent view him as favorable.
The St. Pete Polls survey of 3,128 Florida registered voters who said they were planning to vote in the election was taken Oct. 8-11 and had a margin of error of +/- 1.8 percent.
A poll from Gravis Marketing shows similar results. The Gravis poll, also released on Monday, finds Scott ahead with 44 percent, Crist on his heels with 42 percent and 14 percent undecided. Libertarian candidate Wyllie — who has polled in the high single digits in most polls and has cracked double digits in a few — was left out of the survey.
The Gravis poll of 1,023 registered voters in Florida was taken Oct. 11-12 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.
The Miami Herald reported Tuesday that 0ptimus released a new poll showing Crist ahead 40.5 percent to 39.4 percent. The 0ptimus poll showed Wyllie taking 13 percent. The 0ptimus poll had a margin of error of +/- 1.8 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
