With voting day a mere six weeks away, two new polls find that the race for governor is looking like it's going to be a photo finish. And the reason for this is that people just don't dig either candidate.
A Quinnipiac University Poll is labeling the governor's race "too close to call" after its latest poll shows Rick Scott leading Charlie Crist by a mere two percentage points.
Meanwhile, SurveyUSA/WFLA's latest poll has Scott leading Crist by one percentage point.
Qunnipiac's poll delves further into this dead heat by showing that the likely voters they surveyed just aren't sold on either guy.
Not much has changed, apparently.
Way back in June, polls found Scott and Crist "virtually tied."
In July, same thing.
Now in late September, with voting day less than two months away, we're pretty much in the same boat.
In Quinnipiac's latest survey, when likely voters were asked, "Is your opinion of Charlie Crist favorable, unfavorable or haven't you heard enough about him?" 49 percent said they have an unfavorable opinion, as opposed to 41 percent who said they like him.
Likewise, Scott gets an unfavorable rating of 48 percent compared to a 42 percent favorable.
Meanwhile, independent voters chimed in a little stronger, with 55 percent saying Crist is not honest and trustworthy and 51 percent saying the same about Scott.
Where Crist may find some solace is that voters believe he's more empathetic than Scott -- but not by much. Forty-six percent say they think Crist truly understands people's problems, as opposed to 45 percent who said they don't think he does.
But 50 percent said Scott doesn't care about the needs and problems of people, while 42 percent say he does.
All this might be pointing toward good news for Scott, who despite his unpopularity among Floridians, doesn't seem to be losing any ground against Crist.
In the midst of these numbers, News Press is giving Scott a 63.7 percent shot at winning reelection, while giving Crist only a 36.3 percent chance of unseating Rick.
Moreover, the Miami Herald's insider poll says the majority of insiders they polled see the race going to Scott.
Meanwhile, Quinnipiac's Peter Brown says the final outcome will in all likelihood be determined by independent voters and those who are showing support for Libertarian candidate Adrian Wyllie.
Wyllie has tended to tip the scales whenever he's not mentioned in polls, and the question is which way will his supporters go if they decide to abandon ship.
"Wyllie voters are the bigger unknown because there is little way of predicting if they will stay with the third-party challenger or decide to switch to Scott or Crist in order to be with a winner," Brown says on the Quinnipiac website.
"At this point, neither major party candidate is doing markedly better as a second choice of Wyllie voters," he adds. "It is also worth considering that there is a consensus that negative campaigning tends to be a turnoff more to the very people who seem to hold the keys to the kingdom -- independents and third-party voters."
Scott and Crist are set to have a debate at Broward College on October 15.
Wyllie is not invited.
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