JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Despite allegations of misconduct and a federal criminal investigation and running in a significantly redrawn district, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown has a slight lead over her two Democratic rivals in an early poll, but an even larger number of voters remain undecided.
The poll, administered by the University of North Florida, shows Brown with a 3 percent lead over her closest challenger challengers in the District 5 race.
Of likely Democratic voters, 30 percent said they'd vote for Brown. Former state Sen. Al Lawson received 27 percent in the poll and LaShonda Holloway picked up 4 percent. The difference between Brown and Lawson is within the margin of error.
The bigger story is that the poll found 40 percent of likely voters said they don't know who they'll vote for or had no answer.
Among Duval County voters, Brown picked up more than 50 percent of the polled voters to 14 percent for Lawson, but in counties west of Duval County, stretching west to past Tallahassee, Lawson drew 40 percent of support to Brown's 14 percent.
Women were more likely to favor Brown, as well. 31 percent of women polled said they'd vote for her, to Lawson's 23 percent. Lawson had a slight advantage with men, 32 to 27 percent.
Black voters were also more likely to favor Brown, 41 for her to 27 for Lawson. White voters favored Lawson 26 to 7 percent. However, 61 percent of white voters said they hadn't made up their minds yet.
The UNF poll was conducted Monday and Tuesday among 400 registered Democrats polled by telephone. All those polled must have voted in at least four of the last five elections. The poll had a margin of error of 4.9 percent.
The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Glo Smith in November.