The new survey of Florida by Democratic-leaning pollster Public Policy Polling (D) shows Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson continuing to lead his Republican challengers, though there are still signs of potential vulnerability.
Nelson leads Rep. Connie Mack IV by a margin of 47 percent to 37 percent, he leads former appointed Sen. George LeMieux 48 percent to 34 percent, and leads businessman Mike McCalister 47 percent to 35 percent. The survey of registered voters was conducted from April 12-15, and has a 3.7 percent margin of error.
From the pollster’s analysis:
Nelson’s leads come despite having only a 36% approval rating, with 32% of voters disapproving of him. Even after decades at the center of Florida politics 33% have no opinion about him one way or the other. The main thing holding Nelson’s approval numbers back is that only 55% of Democrats give him good marks, but 80-81% of them still vote for him in head to head match ups against his GOP opponents. His 15% support from Republicans and 37/34 split with independents are decent.
Nelson’s reelection prospects are definitely being helped by a weak Republican candidate field. His opponents are a combination of unknown and unliked. Mack has the best name recognition with 47% of voters familiar with him but he’s not popular, with only 20% of voters rating him favorably to 27% with a negative opinion. George LeMieux’s favorability is 10/25 and Mike McCalister’s is 6/17.
