Andrew Gillum, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Florida, is pursuing his mission to become the first black governor of the swing state, while his quest might help other Democrats who are running in this state, Bloomberg informed.
According to a certain Quinnipiac University survey Gillum is ahead of Republican opponent Ron DeSantis 52 percent to 46 percent among likely voters, with double-digit leads among women, Hispanics and independents.
“Gillum has attracted a coalition of voters that don’t normally turn out in midterms, minorities and young voters, for instance,” University of Central Florida political science professor Aubrey Jewett said in an interview. If that edge holds and translates into higher turnout, Democrats in key U.S. House races as well as state-level candidates down the ballot could rise with him.
Florida Democrat Bill Nelson, who is seeking re-election to the Senate, leads Republican Governor Rick Scott by 52 percent to 46 percent among likely voters in the same survey.
Gillum, who is seen as a more progressive Democrat, sways away from the “traditional, centrist kind of candidate” that Florida Democrats have tended to run for governor, thus making voters who might not otherwise vote in the midterm election to go out and cast their votes.
Still, while Gillum did particularly well during the primary in the state’s more urban areas like Miami-Dade County, his appeal in more rural parts of Florida is “less clear,” Wagner said.
DeSantis is running as a close ally of President Donald Trump, and even if his appeal has dimmed slightly in a state he won in 2016, the President remains exceptionally popular among his base. Some 91 percent Republicans approve of Trump’s performance as president, according to the latest Gallup Poll, the highest rating he’s had from self-identified Republicans since becoming president.
Be the first to comment