Latest poll: Crist and Scott still tied

MIAMI – It is still a tie.

The latest Quinnipiac University poll shows Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Charlie Crist deadlocked at 42% each in the Florida governor’s race, which will be decided in less than two weeks. Libertarian candidate Adrian Wyllie registers a 7% in the poll.

Wyllie’s presence is most interesting because in spite of many predicting that he would harm (or favor) one or the other of the two main candidates in this race, when Wyllie is removed from the equation, Scott and Crist remained tied at 44% each, the poll showed.

The Miami Herald’s Marc Caputo reports that “More than one million Floridians have already cast mail-in absentee ballots and early in-person ballots ahead of the Nov. 4 election, with registered Republicans out-voting Democrats 48-35 percent.

“Scott and his supporters have spent almost $60 million and Crist’s side has dropped almost $27 million on TV ads since March…”

Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University poll, said, “For all the money spent on this race, it now appears the winner will be the one whose organization excels at the blocking and tackling of politics – getting their voters to the polls.”

The Quinnipiac poll is the third conducted in the last week. Crist and Scott remain in a virtual tie in all three. Experts, though, are saying that Crist may be slightly ahead because of his 41% to 38% lead amongst independent voters.

Other interesting findings from the Quinnipiac poll:

• Men and women just about cancel each other out in the three-way matchup. Scott leads Crist among men 46 – 38 percent, with 10 percent for Wyllie, while Crist leads Scott 45 – 39 percent among women, with 6 percent for Wyllie.
• Crist gets 41 percent of independent voters, to Scott’s 38 percent, with 11 percent for Wyllie. Republicans back Scott over Crist 81 – 7 percent, with 6 percent for Wyllie. Democrats go to Crist over Scott 86 – 5 percent, with 3 percent for Wyllie.
• Among those who already have voted, Crist gets 42 percent to Scott’s 38 percent.
• Florida likely voters dislike Crist a little less than Scott and still don’t know much about Wyllie.

The poll was conducted from Oct. 14 – 20. The margin of error of the 984 likely voters is a +/- 3.1 percent.