MIAMI, April 7 (UPI) -- A poll released Wednesday shows the Republican race for Florida's soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat is turning into a two-man contest.
The poll, commissioned by the Orlando Sentinel and WESH-TV in Orlando, shows former Rep. Bill McCollum with 27 percent of the vote and former housing Secretary Mel Martinez with 18 percent. None of the other candidates collected more than 8 percent.
In the Democratic contest former state Education Commissioner Betty Castor collected 33 percent to 16 percent for Rep. Peter Deutsch, D-Fla., but 41 percent of the voters are undecided.
About a third of the Republican voters polled also were undecided.
The contest in the general election race is in a virtual tie.
Castor leads McCollum 39 percent to 38 percent with 23 percent undecided and also is ahead of Martinez 39-36 percent with 25 percent undecided.
The telephone poll of 625 likely voters was conducted March 30-April 1 with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The primary election in both parties is Aug. 31.
