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Nelson Gains Slight Lead Over Scott In Mason-Dixon U.S. Senate Race Poll

Democratic Senator Bill Nelson (left) and Republican Florida Governor Rick Scott (right).
FLGOV.COM AND SENATE.GOV
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Gov. Rick Scott (R-Fla.)

Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Bill Nelson of Florida has a razor-thin lead against GOP challenger Gov. Rick Scott in the latest Mason-Dixon poll.

The poll found Nelson with 47% and Scott with 46%, with seven percent undecided.

In July,  Scott had the advantage with a 47% compared to Nelson’s 43%, according to Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy.

Scott has a strong lead in North Florida with 56%, compared to Nelson’s 34%.  The reverse is true in Southeast Florida where Nelson leads 62% to 33%.

Related: Full Results Of Scott/Nelson Poll

In Central Florida Scott is ahead 51% to 43%. In Southwest Florida, Scott’s home turf, he leads with 53% compared to Nelson’s 38%.

Mason-Dixon conducted the poll during the week of Brett Kavanugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing.   

The polling company speculates this may have influenced the poll, saying the “hearings may have sparked Republican voter interest and closed the enthusiasm gap between Democrats and the GOP. It could explain why Nelson may have had larger leads in several other polls conducted prior to last week, while this one shows him still in a toss-up contest.”

Mason-Dixon reports poll’s margin of error is plus-or-minus 3.5 percentage points.

Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.

Bill joined WJCT News in September of 2017 from The Florida Times-Union, where he served in a variety of multimedia journalism positions.