Poll: Marco Rubio Holds Double-Digit Lead over Democrat Val Demings

Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) lead over Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) has increased as the election draws closer, a UNF Public Opinion Research Lab survey found.

The survey, released Wednesday, showed Rubio expanding his lead against Demings, leading by 11 percentage points, or 54 percent to 43 percent. His 11-point lead is well outside the survey’s +/- 4.7 percent margin of error, and just three percent said they remained unsure or refused to answer:

The survey was taken October 17-24, 2022, among 622 likely voters and follows other surveys showing Rubio leading Demings in the race, which is less than two weeks away. Thursday’s RealClearPolitics average showed the Florida senator leading Demings by an average of 7.4 percent.

U.S. Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) participates in a televised debate with U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) at Duncan Theater on the campus of Palm Beach State College in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Tuesday, October 18, 2022. (Thomas Cordy/The Palm Beach Post via AP)

UNF political science professor and Public Opinion Research Lab faculty director Dr. Michael Binder noted that it “will likely take an exceptionally weak Republican candidate for Democrats to win statewide,” adding that “Rubio is not a weak candidate.”

Rubio went head to head with Demings during a debate last week, highlighting Demings’ extreme positions on a variety of issues — from abortion to election integrity.

While Rubio identified himself as “100 percent pro-life,” Demings failed to explain when, exactly, she believes abortion should be illegal, vaguely pointing to the “point of viability” but repeatedly refusing to explain when she believes that is.

Rubio said:

The extremist on abortion in this campaign is Congresswoman Demings. She supports no restrictions, no limitations of any kind. … She’s against the four-month ban. She voted against a five-month ban. She supports taxpayer-funded abortion on demand for any reason at any time, up until the moment of birth. That’s what she supports.

The Republican senator also confronted Demings after the Democrat baselessly accused him of supporting voter suppression.

“In Florida, you can now vote by mail for any reason. You can vote, for example, ten days before the election. You can vote on Election Day. In Georgia, which they claim to be the place that was suppressing all the votes, you had record African American voter turnout,” he said, later asking, “You have to ask for ID to get into her [Demings’] neighborhood where she lives and you have every right to have that, but you can’t ask for it when they vote?”

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