What to Know
- Gillum, who is seeking to become the first black governor in the state’s history, got 54 percent of the support in the poll released Weds.
- 94 percent of those polled said they had made up their mind about who they will vote for on November 6th.
With less than six weeks to go until Floridians go to the polls to elect the state’s next governor, the latest Quinnipiac University poll gives Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum a nearly double digit lead over his opponent, former Rep. Ron DeSantis.
Gillum, who is seeking to become the first black governor in the state’s history as well as the first Democrat elected to the office in two decades, got 54 percent of the support in the poll released Wednesday – up from 50 percent three weeks ago – while the GOP nominee, who pulled in upset win in the primary thanks to the support of President Donald Trump, got 45 percent.
The poll surveyed 888 voters and has a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.
The results came after a NBC News / Marist poll released Tuesday showing Gillum, as well as longtime Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, having a slight lead in both their races that remained within the margin of error.
Gillum’s support in the latest poll came mostly from women (59 percent to 39), Independents (56 percent to 40) and minority groups, with 98 percent of black voters and 59 percent of Hispanic voters saying they would vote for him as opposed to DeSantis.
The former U.S. Representative from Jacksonville held a slim lead among male voters (51 percent to 48 percent) while 53 percent of white voters said they would vote for DeSantis while 45 percent said they would vote for Gillum.
94 percent of those polled said they had made up their mind about who they will vote for on November 6th with each candidate solidly having the support of their party’s base (90 percent of GOP voters supporting DeSantis and 96 percent of Democrats supporting Gillum.)
With his candidacy backed by Vermont Sen. and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, 39 percent of those polled labeled Gillum as ‘too liberal’ while 39 percent of those polled called DeSantis ‘too conservative’.
Those polled also were asked what issues were the most important, with the economy topping all others at 20 percent followed by immigration, education and health care (14 percent each), the environment (13 percent) and gun control (12 percent).
If Gillum does become the first black governor in state history, 25 percent of voters think race relations will get better in the state while 27 percent think they will get worse and 43 percent think they will stay the same. 13 percent of voters think relations will get better if DeSantis wins while 38 percent think they will get worse and 45 percent think they will stay the same.
