Trump maintains 5-point lead over Harris in Florida as elections approach, new poll shows

Former President Donald Trump continues to maintain a solid lead over Vice President Kamala Harris in Florida polls, managing to offset the Democrat's momentum following her rise to the top of the ticket.

FiveThirtyEight's trend average shows Trump has actually expanded his lead by more than a percentage point over the past days, going from a low of 3.8 percentage points on August 22 to 4.6 on September 2.

The latest polls are in line with the gap. One conducted between August 25 and 28 by Redfield & Wilton Strategies and among 850 likely voters shows Trump with 48% of the support compared to Harris' 43%. The lead was unchanged from the previous edition, with more voters saying they prefer Trump on topics like immigration, crime, defense and handling inflation.

Another one by ActiVote, which surveyed 400 likely voters between August 16 and 31, shows Trump with 53% of the vote, Harris taking the remaining 47%. And one by the Republican-led Florida Chamber of Commerce/Cherry Communications has Trump leading 52% to 45%.

The poll also found voters with no party affiliation in the state, a critical voting bloc to win, breaking for Trump. About 53% of no-party voters surveyed say they intend to vote for Trump, while just 43% will support Harris.

Republicans' lead extends to the Senate race, where incumbent Rick Scott is leading contender Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. The same Florida Chamber of Commerce poll found that some 51% of voters say they are ready to re-elect the Naples Republican, compared to 44% who prefer Mucarsel-Powell.

The incumbent also holds a stronghold within his party, enjoying the backing of 88% of Republicans in Florida. He also boasts the backing of 51% of no-party voters, while just 40% plan to vote for his Democratic challenger.

The survey comes as Mucarsel-Powell launches a "75 Stop Tour" campaign push across Florida in hopes to close the gap with the incumbent. She said that the tour derives from "every single time that Rick Scott took the fifth when he was being investigated for committing fraud."

Meanwhile, Scott, who is the wealthiest man in the Senate and has previously self-funded his campaigns, remains confident in his chances to win another term in his Senate seat, but he remains skeptical about the polling that shows a small margin of difference between the two candidates.

"We're going to have a big win. If you look at all my races, the polls have generally been way off," Scott said in Jacksonville. "In all three of my races, polls said I was going to lose... because they're not accurate."