Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) leads Rep. Val Demings (D) in the race for the state’s Senate seat by 11 points in a new poll, his largest lead in recent polling as he continues to appear to have an edge heading into Election Day.
The University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab released the poll results on Wednesday, showing that 54 percent of likely voters surveyed plan to support Rubio, while 43 percent plan to support Demings. Three percent said they were undecided or did not answer the question.
Michael Binder, the faculty director of the research lab, said in a release announcing the results that Demings has raised a lot of money throughout her campaign and has attacked Rubio for months, but the incumbent is still leading by double digits.
“Florida has become a red state, it will likely take an exceptionally weak Republican candidate for Democrats to win statewide — and Rubio is not a weak candidate,” Binder said.
Pollsters found Rubio leading among respondents who do not identify as a Democrat or Republican by 10 points, 51 percent to 41 percent. Hispanic voters are also evenly divided between the two candidates, with each receiving support from 49 percent of that group.
The poll was conducted among 622 likely voters from Oct. 17 to 24. The margin of error was 4.7 percentage points.
The same poll also found Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) leading Democrat Charlie Crist in the governor’s race by 14 points.
FiveThirtyEight’s polling average has Rubio leading Demings by about 9 points.