U.S. Rep. David Jolly would retain his Pinellas County 13th Congressional District seat if a rematch with Democrat Alex Sink were held today, according to a new StPetePolls survey.
The April 8 poll, commissioned by SaintPetersBlog, found that the Republican would take 48% of the vote — the same amount Jolly took in the March 11 special election to replace Rep. C.W. Bill Young., who died in October.
In the hypothetical matchup, Sink would lose to the incumbent by more than two points — receiving 46% — roughly the same size as she did in the March election, when she took 46.55 percent of the vote. Just over 6% of voters say they are unsure.
As expected, much of the vote would break down along party lines, with each candidate performing in the mid-70s from their base — Jolly with 75%, Sink with 72%.
However, in this matchup, Jolly would get slightly more Democrats from Sink than the past Florida CFO would take Republicans. Among Democratic voters, Jolly gets 22%, whereas Sink would bleed off only 20% of the Republican vote.
In the weeks after the special election, both local and national press have reported that Democrats are considering Sink for another CD 13 effort in the November midterms. Sink has not yet announced if she will run again.
The poll of 903 Florida registered voters was conducted on April 8 and has a +/- 3.3 percent margin of error.