Poll: Gillum leads DeSantis by 3 points in Florida governor race

Democrat Andrew Gillum leads Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) by 3 points in Florida’s gubernatorial race, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday.

Fifty percent of likely voters said they would back Gillum, who is the mayor of Tallahassee, while 47 percent said they planned to vote for DeSantis, a House lawmaker in Washington.

Gillum’s lead is within the survey’s margin of error of 4.3 percentage points.

{mosads}Independent voters, who make up a considerable portion of the electorate in Florida, favored Gillum by 13 points, according to the poll.

“The Gillum campaign’s off to a great start, with Mayor Gillum raising the resources we need to win and our message resonating with voters across the political spectrum,” Geoff Burgan, communications director for Gillum’s campaign, said in a statement after the poll results were released.

DeSantis’s campaign said it wasn’t focused on the new numbers.

“Polls come and go,” communications director Stephen Lawson said Tuesday in a statement. “What Ron DeSantis is focused on is moving Florida forward by building on our economic success, protecting our environment and empowering parents to make the best educational decisions for their children. Andrew Gillum wants to take us backwards with socialist, high tax policies that would be a disaster for our state for generations to come.”

Gillum, who is backed by progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), unexpectedly defeated former Rep. Gwen Graham (D-Fla.) in last week’s Democratic primary.

DeSantis easily defeated Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam in the state’s Republican gubernatorial primary on Aug. 28 after being endorsed by President Trump.

But the president’s support isn’t guaranteed to boost DeSantis’s electoral prospects. The Quinnipiac poll found that 51 percent of respondents in Florida said they disapprove of Trump’s job as president.

Quinnipiac University surveyed 785 likely voters from Aug. 30 through Sept. 3. It was the second public poll released since last week’s primaries.

The first survey, released last week by the Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling, found that Gillum had a 5-point lead over DeSantis.

Updated at 3:47 p.m.