Poll shows Gillum, DeSantis running neck-and-neck

Democrat Andrew Gillum leads Republican U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis in the first Quinnipiac University poll since last week’s primaries, but the survey found the race too close to call.

In the poll of 785 likely Florida voters from Aug. 30 to Sept. 3, Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, was at 50 percent support to DeSantis’s 47 percent, according to Quinnipiac. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.3 percent.

Gillum “came out of his upset victory in the Florida Democratic primary with a head of steam,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the poll.

Gillum is leading with women and independents, but DeSantis was winning with men and the Hispanic vote. But surprisingly for a race that featured candidates not too well known before entering the primary, there were barely any undecided voters in the poll — and even among those who made a choice, 94 percent said they would never change their minds.

“Neither man was wellknown before their primaries, but since then, the race has become a center of political attention in the state,” Brown said.

“Now, 97 percent of voters say they will vote for one of the two men, a highly unusual situation this far from the actual voting,” he said. “Just as unusual, more than 90 percent of Gillum and DeSantis voters say they will not change their minds and are dead set in supporting the candidate they now favor.’’

On Sept. 28, Gillum defeated Democratic frontrunner Gwen Graham, a former member of Congress from Tallahassee. DeSantis, whose own win was once considered unlikely against Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, pulled into the lead for the GOP nomination weeks ago.

Overall, both men and whites backed DeSantis by 52 percent to 45 percent, while Gillum had a larger margin in his favor with women, 55 percent to 42 percent, and a huge margin with African Americans, 93 percent to 2 percent. If elected, Gillum would become Florida’s first black governor.

But with the all-important Hispanic vote, DeSantis was at 56 percent to 43 percent for Gillum.

Independents went to Gillum by 55 percent to 42 percent.