What a difference a poll makes. A new survey of likely voters in Florida shows wealthy former hospital executive Rick Scott, the state’s Republican gubernatorial nominee, running very close to Democratic nominee and state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink. The poll, conducted by Republican-leaning firm Susquehanna for the news site Sunshine State News, shows Sink ahead 44-42. There is no past poll for direct comparison.
A CNN/Time poll of registered voters in Florida released Tuesday showed Sink with a comfortable seven-point lead. The new Susquehanna numbers suggest that despite the state and national GOP’s trepidations when it comes to Scott, the self-funding tea party-backed millionaire has what it takes to beat Sink.
Past polls of the race — most of which included independent-but-Democratic-leaning candidate Bud Chiles, who dropped out of the race recently and endorsed Sink — showed the Democratic nominee with a healthy lead over Scott in the general election fight. If the new Susquehanna numbers are to be believed, that narrative may be changing.
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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