New poll shows Gillum lead grows to 7%

With less than 50 days to Election Day in Florida, a new poll that is out conducted by Thompson Reuters, Ipsos and the University of Virginia Center for Politics shows Andrew Gillum with a lead of seven percentage points over Ron DeSantis in a race to replace outgoing Florida governor Rick Scott.

According to the poll, reported the Tampa Bay Times, “42 percent of respondents said they would vote for Gillum, the Democratic nominee, while 35 percent chose DeSantis, the Republican.”  

The Tampa Bay Times report added that “respondents also tended to disapprove more often than approve of the job by President Trump, with 42 percent saying they either ‘strongly approve’ or ‘somewhat approve’ of his performance, while 48 percent said they either ‘strongly disapprove’ or ‘somewhat disapprove.’

“The top issues on respondents’ minds when it came to their votes were, in order: immigration, the economy, healthcare and Social Security.”

Gillum, currently the mayor of Tallahassee, has earned the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders and has campaigned on a progressive agenda that includes expanding Medicare to cover everyone and an increase of the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

DeSantis, who resigned as a congressman earlier this month to focus on campaigning for governor, has received the endorsement of President Trump.

If Gillum wins, he would be Florida’s first black governor.