Though his lead has slipped a few points over the past month, incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record) still enjoys a comfortable lead over Republican challenger Katherine Harris.  Nelson now leads Harris 54% to 37%. His lead was 23 in the previous poll.

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While Harris is in trouble, the state's Governor's race is leaning solidly in the Republican direction.

Harris emerged successfully from a four-way primary on September 5 with 49.4% of the vote to take her party's nomination.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of voters view Nelson favorably-25% view him very favorably.  Harris' numbers are weighted at the other end of the spectrum:  53% have an unfavorable view of her including 39% in the "very unfavorable" category.

Nelson maintains another distinct advantage over Harris: fundraising.  The most recent financial disclosure statements show Nelson's campaign sitting on approximately $12 million as the campaign enters crunch time.  Harris' campaign has just $2.2 million on hand.

When asked to identify the issues of greatest importance to them, Florida's voters say national security (25%), the economy (23%) and the war in Iraq (20%.)

Regarding the war in Iraq, Florida voters are evenly divided as to whether the war is part of the overall war on terror or a distraction from it.

Voters place their trust with Republicans when it comes to matters concerning national security (49%), immigration (42%) and taxes (45%.)  Democrats are trusted more than Republicans when it comes to Iraq (49%) and the economy (47%.)

The telephone survey of 500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports October 2, 2006. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information.