Jeff Miller part of pack U.S. Senate hopefuls


  • July 27, 2015
  • /   Jim Saunders
  • /   government

The race to replace Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio likely will be one of the most-closely watched Senate contests in the country in 2016.

But it has not attracted any candidates with big statewide names, according to pollster Brad Coker.

"There is no clear favorite in either primary race for Florida's open U.S. Senate seat," Coker said.

A Quinnipiac University poll released last month also showed that voters knew little about the candidates.

A Mason-Dixon poll released Monday gave Congressman David Jolly the support of 16 percent of registered Republicans. He was followed by Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera at 10 percent; Congressman Ron DeSantis at 9 percent; U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller at 8 percent; and Orlando businessman Todd Wilcox at 2 percent.

A whopping 55 percent of GOP voters indicated they were undecided. Miller, R-Chumuckla, has not announced whether he will run for the seat.

On the Democratic side, the poll showed Congressmen Alan Grayson and Patrick Murphy are virtually tied in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Grayson with the support of 33 percent of registered Democratic voters and Murphy with the support of 32 percent. The poll indicated 35 percent of Democrats were undecided in such a head-to-head match-up.

The poll also asked voters about two potential wildcards in the Senate race: Democratic Congresswoman Gwen Graham and former state Attorney General Bill McCollum. Both have faced speculation that they will run for Senate, with the speculation about Graham largely fueled by an upcoming congressional redistricting process.

Graham, the daughter of former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, trailed the other Democrats by double digits in a hypothetical contest, with Murphy at 26 percent, Grayson at 24 percent and Graham at 11 percent.

"It is apparent that most Florida Democrats statewide currently do not make the personal connection between her and her iconic father — former Governor and Senator Bob Graham,'' Coker said in the analysis. "Over the course of a campaign that would change of course, and she certainly has great potential to become the heavy Democratic favorite over the next year. But she will have some work to do to get there."

McCollum, meanwhile, would jump to the top of the Republican field. When his name was added to the poll, McCollum was at 22 percent, Jolly was at 11 percent, DeSantis was at 8 percent, Lopez-Cantera was at 7 percent, Miller was at 6 percent and Wilcox was at 1 percent.

 

Coker's firm, Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc., conducted the poll from July 20 through Friday. It surveyed 500 registered Republican voters and 500 registered Democrats. The results said the margin of error is "no more than 4.5 percentage points."

Your items have been added to the shopping cart. The shopping cart modal has opened and here you can review items in your cart before going to checkout