Fox News Poll: Florida GOP gubernatorial primary

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GOP candidate for Florida governor talks immigration policy

Where does Commissioner Adam Putnam stand on immigration? The Republican candidate for Florida governor discusses his platform on 'Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream.'

Two candidates lead the pack in Florida’s Republican gubernatorial nomination contest -- although many voters remain undecided or uncertain about their vote.

A Fox News Poll of Florida likely GOP primary voters finds Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam ahead of Congressman Ron DeSantis by a 32-17 percent margin.  Yet the largest number of voters, 39 percent, is unsure who they will back in the August 28 primary.  Meanwhile, 46 percent of those supporting a candidate say they could still change their mind.

READ THE COMPLETE POLL RESULTS.

All other candidates receive less than four percent support.

The results hold when narrowed to just those who say they will “definitely” vote:  34 percent Putnam, 19 percent DeSantis, and 35 percent undecided.

Fifty-five percent of DeSantis supporters and 51 percent of Putnam backers feel certain of their vote choice.

Fox News is hosting a Florida GOP gubernatorial primary debate Thursday, June 28 with co-moderators Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando, Florida from 6:30-7:30PM/ET.

The poll, released Thursday, finds 22 percent of these GOP primary voters believe immigration is the top issue facing their state, while 16 percent say health care, 15 percent the economy, 12 percent guns, 10 percent the opioid crisis, 7 percent taxes, 5 percent environmental issues, and 4 percent abortion.

Florida Governor Rick Scott received 88 percent support from Republicans when he was elected in 2014, and 80 percent currently approve of the job he’s doing.

In the 2016 presidential election, Florida went for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton by a narrow one-point margin.  Eighty-nine percent of Sunshine State Republicans backed Trump then, and 86 percent of GOP primary voters give him a thumbs up today.

Sixty-two percent “strongly” approve of Trump’s job performance, while 45 percent say the same of Scott.

“There are two clear frontrunners in the race, but the high undecided leaves plenty of room for that to change by August,” says Democratic Pollster Chris Anderson, who conducts the Fox News poll along with Republican counterpart Daron Shaw.

“And with Florida Republicans strongly approving of President Trump and immigration rated a top issue -- the hottest issue in national news today could become central to this race.”

The Fox News Poll is conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R).  The poll was conducted June 15-19, 2018 by telephone (landline and cellphone) with live interviewers among 901 Florida likely Republican primary voters and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.  A statewide voter file was used to randomly select registered Republican voters identified as likely to vote in the August primary.