Challenger Ed Braddy is leading incumbent Craig Lowe in the Gainesville Mayor’s race, according to a poll released Friday.
Of the 667 voters polled, 40 percent said they would vote for Braddy; 36 percent said they would vote for Lowe and 24 percent were undecided.
Pinellas County-based StPetePolls conducted the telephone poll on Thursday. It has a 3.8 percent margin of error.
In it, 39.5% of voters reported a favorable view of Braddy. Another 28.3 percent reported an unfavorable view and 32.2 percent were unsure.
For Lowe, 34.1% reported a favorable view. Another 42.4 percent reported an unfavorable view and 23.5 percent were unsure.
The voters polled did support a policy initiative that Lowe backs and Braddy opposes- bus rapid transit. Asked if they supported a bus rapid transit system, 53 percent said yes; 30 percent said no and 17 percent were unsure.
The firm previously conducted a poll before the March 19 general election. It accurately showed Braddy and Lowe advancing from a six candidate field to face off in the runoff. In that poll, 28.7 percent of the voters supported Braddy and 24 percent favored Lowe.
But that poll inaccurately showed Alfredo Espinosa receiving the most votes in the District 4 Commission race and advancing to a runoff with incumbent Randy Wells
StPetePolls is owned by phone system company Fextel Inc. The company got into political polling in 2011 and “amped up the presence” before the 2012 general election, said Matt Florell, with StPetePolls.
Florell said the firm was not hired to conduct the recent polls in the Gainesville race. In the Spring of an off election year, they decided to conduct a poll in a city with different demographics and political make up than the Tampa Bay area.