Key Points in Q Poll:
- Nelson leads Mack by 8 points — 44 to 36 percent. The months of negative publicity surrounding Mack’s reckless past (and the questions it raised regarding Mack’s character) have clearly damaged his standing.
- Nelson is winning independent voters by 10 points — 40 to 30.
- Nelson’s surge is fueled by female voters, and he is “running better among several groups, including whites and Catholics and voters 50 to 64 years old”
Quinnipiac: Nelson Opens 8-Point Lead Over Mack In Florida, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Women Are Key To Democrat’s Lead
March 29, 2012
Breaking out of a dead heat in Florida, Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson opens a 44 – 36 percent lead over U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, the Republican challenger, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
Today’s results compare to a tie with Nelson at 41 percent and Mack at 40 percent in a January 11 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University.
Today, Nelson leads 46 – 32 percent among women, while men split 41 – 41 percent. Republicans go 75 – 9 percent for Mack while Nelson leads 80 – 7 percent among Democrats and 40 – 30 percent among independent voters, but 27 percent of these voters are undecided.
“President Barack Obama’s surge in Florida is helping Sen. Bill Nelson’s re-election chances,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Just as President Obama’s lead in the presidential race in the Sunshine State is fueled by female voters, so too is Nelson’s. He also is running better among several groups, including whites and Catholics and voters 50 to 64 years old.”
From March 20 – 26, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,228 registered voters with a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points. Live interviewers call land lines and cell phones.
The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Virginia and the nation as a public service and for research. For more data or RSS feed- http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, call (203) 582-5201, or follow us on Twitter.