Poll: Florida voters resolute

Scott TV ads going after Nelson haven’t altered surveys much

Rick Scott’s continuous barrage of campaign ads going after Bill Nelson hasn’t — so far, at least — made a dramatic difference in Florida’s contest for U.S. Senate.

A poll released Tuesday by Florida Atlantic University found Republican Scott with 45 percent and Democrat Nelson with 39 percent.

That represents a slight move in Scott’s direction compared with a July FAU poll, which had 44 percent for Scott and 40 percent for Nelson and a May poll, which had the same 44⁄40 split.

Kevin Wagner, an FAU political scientist and research fellow at the university’s Business and Economics Polling Initiative, said that’s too minor a change to draw any conclusion about the direction of the race. It could be a statistical blip.

Nelson is seeking a fourth term in the Senate. Scott has served two terms as governor but can’t run for re-election because of term limits. In the latest survey, 17 percent of the voters were undecided, the same percentage undecided in July and statistically the same as the 16 percent who were undecided in May.

The margin of error in the latest poll is plus or minus 4 percentage points, which means the race could be tied or Scott could have a significant lead.

The FAU Business and Economics Polling Initiative survey of 800 Florida registered voters was conducted online Scott and through automated calls to people with landline telephones from Thursday through Monday.

Wagner said it’s difficult to change the dynamics of a race in which the candidates are familiar to voters.

The poll results indicate many people don’t know much about Nelson, a fixture in Florida politics for decades.

Nelson’s approval was 35 percent, with 36 percent disapproval and 29 percent neutral or not having an opinion.

Scott had 48 percent approval, 33 percent disapproval, with 19 percent neutral or not having an opinion.

In an interview at a Democratic Party rally in Sunrise, before the latest poll was released, Nelson said he was comfortable Nelson with how the race is going.

He said heavy spending on TV ads by Scott and his supporters hasn’t boosted Scott or hurt him. “Rick Scott has used about $40 million in attack ads, if you add up his money plus all of the outside PACs,” Nelson said. “And the good news is it hasn’t moved the numbers. I’ve been saving my nickels and dimes.”

Scott’s newest ad, released Monday night, asserted that Nelson has refused to meet with Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court. “Bill Nelson isn’t representing Florida,” the ad says. “He’s not even doing his job.”

Nelson’s spokeswoman said Scott’s ad is “blatantly false.” She said Nelson “has been trying to schedule such a meeting and the judge has been unavailable.”