Poll: Republican Carlos Gimenez Leading Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in Florida

Carlos Gimenez, mayor of Miami-Dade and Republican candidate for Congress, leads incumbent Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D) in Florida’s 26th District, according to a poll released on Monday.

The survey, conducted by Meeting Street Insights on behalf of the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), found that Gimenez leads Mucarsel-Powell 47 to 42 percent.

This serves as the first publicly released poll on what will likely be the general election contest in November for control of the south Florida district. The district stretches from Miami’s western suburbs to South Miami-Dade and the Florida Keys. Gimenez is currently fighting against Miami-Dade firefighter Omar Blanco for the August 18 Republican primary nomination.

Gimenez also beats Mucarsel-Powell among Hispanic voters, 52 to 33 percent, and Cuban voters prefer Gimenez over the incumbent Democrat by a 37 percent margin.

“Mayor Carlos Gimenez enjoys high name identification and a strong image rating with voters in the district,” the polling memo wrote. “Fully, 76% know the mayor well enough to have formed an opinion of him, with a majority of voters in the district, 51%, viewing Gimenez favorably.”

However, the Miami Herald noted:

The poll indicated that Mucarsel-Powell is less known to voters in the district, with 49% of those polled having an opinion on her while 51% said they don’t know her. Mucarsel-Powell has a positive favorablity rating, with 29% viewing her favorably and 20% viewing her unfavorably.

Florida’s 26th Congressional District was one of the many congressional seats that Democrats flipped during the 2018 midterm elections. Mucarsel-Powell defeated incumbent Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R) by 1.8 percentage points during the 2018 midterm elections.

Republicans only need to regain a net 17 seats to regain the House majority during the 2020 congressional elections.

The poll reached out to 400 registered voters in Florida’s 26th Congressional District from July 14 to 18. The survey has a 4.9 percent margin of error.

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.