Poll: Gillum leads DeSantis by 6 points in Florida

Democrat Andrew Gillum holds a 6-point lead over Republican Ron DeSantis in Florida’s gubernatorial race, according to a new poll.

The University of North Florida poll of likely voters found that Gillum, the mayor of Tallahassee, has the support of 49 percent of likely voters in the survey, while 43 percent said they plan to back DeSantis, a former congressman.

Gillum’s lead is slightly up from the 4-point edge he held in the same poll last month.

{mosads}The poll is consistent with other recent polling in the race that has shown Gillum with a single-digit lead ahead of next week’s election.

Gillum’s lead is boosted by support from independent voters in the state, with 56 percent of voters without a party affiliation saying they’ll vote for the Tallahassee mayor, more than 20 percentage points higher than the 31 percent planning to back DeSantis, the poll found.

Both candidates are doing well within their own party, as 87 percent of Democrats polled said they will vote for Gillum and 84 percent of Republicans in the survey said they plan to vote for DeSantis.

The poll’s results are based on phone interviews from Oct. 23 to 26 with 1,051 likely voters. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

A RealClearPolitics average of polls shows Gillum with a 3.2-point lead.

The Cook Political Report rates the race as a toss-up, while FiveThirtyEight’s governors race forecast rates it as “likely Democrat” and gives Gillum better than an 80 percent chance to win.