The first public poll of the general election cycle in Florida should make Democrats smile — after the brutal Republican primary campaign for Governor, Democratic nominee Alex Sink is on top heading into November. The new survey of 567 likely voters, conducted by PPP (D) in the two days before the Aug 24 primary vote, shows Sink leading newly-crowned Republican nominee Rick Scott 41-34. Independent candidate Bud Chiles — expected to draw Democratic votes, if any — has 8% of the vote.
Polls at the end of the Republican primary, which saw Scott negative campaign his way past Republican establishment pick Bill McCollum, showed Sink was benefiting from the ugly fight. The new PPP poll suggests that Scott turned many voters off with his scorched-earth strategy against McCollum and will now have to regain their support.
Scott’s certainly shown he has the resources to try and buy his way back into the voters’ good graces. But with Sink leading by eight with a Democratic-leaning independent on the ballot, Scott may have found himself in a deeper general election hole than he expected.
The TPM Poll Average for the race shows Sink leading Scott 38.8-30.5. Chiles draws 11.0% of the vote.
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
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