Staff report

TCPalm

In Florida's closely watched Senate race, Bill Nelson is leading Gov. Rick Scott in two polls released Tuesday.

The latest poll by NBC News/Marist shows the Democratic incumbent has a 3 percentage-point lead, 48 percent to 45 percent, over his Republican opponent among likely voters. The poll shows Nelson has a 5-point lead, 48 percent to 43 percent, among all registered voters.

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Nelson holds significant edges among African Americans (78 percent to 15 percent), and voters between 18 and 29 years old (65-30), as well as leads among Latinos, independent voters and women. Scott is ahead with white voters (52-40), men (50-42) and likely voters 40 and older.

“The political environment in Florida, overall, is tipping in the Democrats' favor,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the survey for NBC News.

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In another poll released earlier Tuesday, Nelson held a 7 percentage-point lead according to a Quinnipiac study.

More:Quinnipiac poll: Rick Scott trails Bill Nelson in U.S. Senate race by 7 points

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