If the election were today, it would be a tossup between incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Corrine Brown and challenger Al Lawson.
That’s according to a new poll by the University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Laboratory.
UNF researchers polled likely Democratic voters in the new Congressional District 5. Until this election, the district snaked from Jacksonville south to the Orlando area. Now it stretches westward past Tallahassee.
Incumbent Corrine Brown is being investigated for potential criminal fraud and ethics violations. But she’s managing a statistical dead heat in the poll, with 30 percent of voter support. Former state Rep. Al Lawson (D-Tallahassee) has 27 percent, but there’s about a 5 percentage point margin of error.
Jacksonville Democrat LaShonda Holloway has 4 percent of voters’ support.
Meanwhile, 40 percent of Democratic voters are still unsure.
Fleming Island Republican Glo Smith was not included in the poll. District 5 is heavily Democratic.
All candidates are African-American, but there are significant differences in how they’re polling with voters of different races. Brown has a large advantage among black voters and Duval County voters, while Lawson has the edge with white voters and voters west of Jacksonville.
For more information about the poll results and the methodology used.
