Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti is ahead of Democrat Scott Israel by 10 percentage points, according to a poll released today at www.browardbeat.com, a political blog by Buddy Nevins.
But the race could still be close because 18 percent of voters are undecided.
Nevins teamed up with independent pollster Jim Kane who conducted the random telephone survey of about 400 voters between Sunday and Tuesday. It has a margin of error of five percent.
Israel could not be reached for immediate comment Wednesday evening.
Lamberti says the ”good news” won’t change his strategy of emphasizing that the sheriff is a “professional position not political.”
If Lamberti wins, he will join a small, exclusive club of Republicans who have won countywide office in Broward in recent memory, including Jane Carroll, a former supervisor of elections, and Bill Markham, a former property appraiser. Both Carroll and Markham were originally elected in 1968 when Broward was less Democratic.
Other tidbits from the poll:
* Israel is winning two-to-one among newly registered voters — and by an even greater margin — among black voters. These are voters who are primarily deciding based on party, says Kane. Israel has reached out to black voters by criticizing Lamberti for appointing an all-white transition team.
* Israel has a 23 percent unfavorable rating while Lamberti has 13 percent. Lamberti’s ad showing Israel repeatedly wiping his brow while messages flash across the screen about his internal affairs record are likely influencing these numbers. The ad omits that Fort Lauderdale police cleared Israel of wrongdoing.
* Lamberti is known by 58 percent of voters while Israel is known by 49 percent. That’s no surprise: Lamberti has higher visibility as the sheriff who was appointed last year by Gov. Charlie Crist after Ken Jenne stepped down. Israel, a former Fort Lauderdale police captain, was mostly recently police chief in North Bay Village — a job that means much less visibility on television.
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