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Poll: Florida governor's race too close to call when Libertarian added

Florida voters appear dissatisfied with Republican Gov. Rick Scott and his Democratic challenger, former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, an analyst said.

By Frances Burns
Charlie Crist, Jr., former Republican Governor of Florida, is running again as a Democrat and leading current Republican Gov. Rick Scott. UPI/Kevin Dietsch
Charlie Crist, Jr., former Republican Governor of Florida, is running again as a Democrat and leading current Republican Gov. Rick Scott. UPI/Kevin Dietsch | License Photo

HAMDEN, Conn., July 24 (UPI) -- Florida Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Charlie Crist end up in a statistical tie when voters are given a Libertarian third option, a Quinnipiac University Poll found.

In a head-to-head matchup, Scott, a Republican, trailed Crist, a former Republican running as a Democrat, by 5 percentage points, with 45 percent picking Crist, Quinnipiac said.

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In a three-way race, Crist gets 39 percent, Scott 37 percent and Libertarian Adrian Wyllie 9 percent.

Scott has also gained some ground against Crist. In a poll released April 30, Crist had a 10-point lead with 48 percent of the vote.

Peter Brown, the poll's assistant director, said Wyllie's candidacy gives the campaign a "new dimension" even though 92 percent of Floridians say they do not know enough about him to have an opinion about him.

"Libertarian Adrian Wyllie is not, at this point, a serious contender to win the governorship. But he may have a great deal to say about who does win," Brown said. "Virtually no one knows much about Wyllie, but there are a lot of Floridians who aren't keen on either of the major party candidates, Gov. Rick Scott or former Gov. Charlie Christ."

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Wyllie is a co-founder of a radio company, the 1787 Network, and former chairman of Florida's Libertarian Party. As a radio newsman, he broke a story that Florida was using facial recognition scans of licensed drivers in surveillance.

The poll, run by Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn., surveyed 1,251 registered voters between July 17 and July 21. The margin of error is 2.9 percentage points.

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