With another poll showing Rep. patrick murphy trailing Sen. Marco Rubio significantly in Florida’s U.S. Senate race, Democratic super PACs have began pulling the plug on television ads. According to the Tampa Bay Times the Senate Majority PAC is pulling $6 million that it had planned to spend on Murphy’s campaign.
Murphy hurt by claims he fudged on business resume
Murphy, accused of taking credit for owning companies that his father bought for him and where he only worked for a minimal length of time, has consistently trailed his Republican opponent for weeks.
The move by Senate Majority PAC comes on the heels of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee pulling its $2 million ad buy earlier this week to spend in more competitive races. Florida was a key component of the Democratic Party’s strategy for taking back the Senate from Republicans who currently hold a 10 seat majority.
Rubio leads Murphy by 9 in fresh AIF poll
The new tracking poll from Associated Industries of Florida shows Rubio leading Murphy 49 percent to 41 percent. Rubio has the backing of Hispanics and conservatives while the poll showed 51% of likely Florida general election voters either had no opinion of Murphy or had never heard of him. The lack of name recognition, despite millions of dollars already spent on television ads to promote his campaign, has dogged the millionaire's son throughout the race.
Blacks support Murphy by 73 percent margin
On the other hand blacks support the wealthy Democrat by a 73% margin according to the poll,which accounts for much of his remaining support. The AIF poll shows Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton locked in a tight race at 44% Clinton to 41% Trump which is within the 3.1% margin of error.
Meanwhile Libertarian Gary Johnson receives 6% of support in the poll while Green Party candidate Jill Stein trails with 2%.
The deteriorating financial situation is a disheartening turn of events for Democrats who must turn five seats in November and win the White House or six seats if Donald Trump wins the presidential contest set for November 8 to control the Senate.
Because Florida has a large vote-rich population, Democrats had hoped to make inroads in that state's politics by holding both of its senate seats, but that is less likely to happen without the aforementioned $8 million in PAC donations.
