The poll is contrary to number of recent public polls that had Gwen Graham leading the primary field. | AP Photo Poll commissioned by unnamed group shows Levine with slight lead on Graham

TALLAHASSEE — Philip Levine has closed the gap with Gwen Graham in the five-person Democratic gubernatorial primary field, according to new numbers out from a firm that this cycle has consistently shown positive numbers for the former Miami Beach mayor.

The poll was conducted by Democratic pollster Tom Eldon, who would not say who paid for the numbers. It has Levine up 30-28 over Graham among those who say they have already voted, and 31-24 with those who expressed a high degree of interest in Democratic primaries. The poll, which used a 600-person sample and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, has Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum coming in third and Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene coming in fourth among both groups.


The poll is contrary to number of recent public polls that had Graham leading the primary field. The Real Clear Politics average of polls has Graham up 7 percentage points, including winning the past three publicly released polls of the race. Levine has not won a poll included in that average since mid-June when he led the field by 2 percentage points.

Over the summer Levine, who has spent $16 million from his personal wealth, was in first place in public polling, but his numbers began to slip after Greene’s late entrance into the race. It was widely believed Levine and Greene, both wealthy Jewish South Florida candidates, were going after the same pool of voters.

Greene, who has used $22.4 million from his personal wealth, has also gone after Graham over her family company’s ties to a mega mall being built in Miami that has been criticized by some environmentalists. Graham has left the company’s board of directors, but made $829,625 made in income from The Graham Companies last year.

In a polling memo outlining his numbers, Eldon said those attacks have cut into Graham’s lead.

“Greene’s decision to go negative against Gwen Graham appears to have brought her back to the pack, but also seriously diminished his chances as he had roped into the fourth place in the low teens,” Eldon wrote.

Eldon has released polling numbers this cycle consistently positive for Levine. His latest in early June had Levine leading the field with 32 percent of respondents, exactly double the support Graham had in the poll.