21CEE · News and analysis

2026 ELECTION • NOVEMBER 5 EVENING REVIEW

Moody won Florida. Her reported margin is smaller than this late poll.

Research Co. put Moody 7 points ahead. NBC’s November 5 evening snapshot has a 2.89-point lead, with 99% estimated vote in.

21CEE editorial analysis · November 5, 2026

Ashley Moody (R, FL Senate); Angie Nixon (D, FL Senate). NBC projects Ashley Moody; dated reported all-candidate lead 2.89 points; selected original poll lead 7 points. 99% estimated vote in. Checked November 5 at 8:48 p.m. Eastern, not certified.
NBC source snapshot checked November 5, 2026 at 8:48 p.m. Eastern. Counts and projections are provisional.

What the count shows

Ashley Moody (R, FL Senate); Angie Nixon (D, FL Senate). NBC News projects Ashley Moody as the winner. In the snapshot checked November 5 at 8:48 p.m. Eastern, Moody had 4,208,284 votes to 3,969,615 for Angie Nixon. The reported lead was 238,669 votes, or 2.89 percentage points across all candidates.

The selected Research Co. poll had a 7-point Moody lead. The reported margin is 4.11 points smaller than that published poll margin. The projected winner matches the poll’s leading candidate; the size of the lead is a separate test.

Reported candidate shares: Ashley Moody 50.87%; Angie Nixon 47.99%; Other reported candidates 1.14%. All candidates included.
NBC source snapshot checked November 5, 2026 at 8:48 p.m. Eastern. Counts and projections are provisional.
NBC reported count, checked November 5 at 8:48 p.m. Eastern
CandidateSource party labelVotesShare of all votes
Ashley MoodyRep4,208,28450.8711%
Angie NixonDem3,969,61547.9860%
Neil GillespieNPA94,5441.1429%
Total8,272,443100%
Margin definitions
MeasureMargin in percentage points
Selected original poll7
All reported candidates2.885109
Leading two candidates only2.918464

What makes this comparison useful

The poll and NBC’s projection picked the same leading candidate. The question is the margin: the selected Research Co. survey put Moody farther ahead than the reported count does. One correctly identified winner does not make every estimate in a poll accurate.

Moody lead: all reported candidates 2.885109 points; leading two only 2.918464 points. Original selected poll 7 points.
Original poll and result denominators are explicitly labeled. Provisional comparison.

Keep the original poll intact

Research Co. surveyed 450 likely voters in Florida online, October 31–November 2. The ballot is shown among decided voters. The publisher describes age and gender weighting and reports ±4.6 percentage points for the state sample; the count of decided respondents is not separately supplied.

The selected survey’s original ballot and methods are reproduced below. It is one published poll, not a polling average or a claim that no later poll existed. Undecided responses, minor candidates, the voter screen and the field dates remain part of the record.

The survey’s stated uncertainty applies to its estimates under its method. It is not an automatic pass-or-fail cutoff for a difference between two candidates, and it cannot turn a provisional count into a final polling-error score.

Research Co. original ballot · October 31–November 2, 2026
Candidate or responsePublished percent
Ashley Moody53
Angie Nixon46
Independent candidate1

The denominator check

Using all 8,272,443 reported candidate votes produces the 2.89-point lead. Restricting the denominator to Ashley Moody and Angie Nixon produces 2.92 points. Both calculations are shown so readers can see the effect rather than confuse the two measures.

For a fully two-candidate poll comparison, the published poll shares must also be renormalized. It would be misleading to change only the result denominator and describe that as a like-for-like final error.

Where the evidence stops

NBC estimated 99% of the vote in. This is a dated reported-count snapshot, not a certified final result. The national senate payload was updated Fri, 06 Nov 2026 01:48:30 GMT. That is the source update clock, not the original race-call time or a timestamp for an individual ballot batch.

A final polling audit should repeat the same calculations after the outcome is stable, preserving the original pre-election poll. This article does not change 21CEE’s locked forecast or claim that a polling gap proves which voters switched parties or stayed home.

Sources and calculations

Reporting: the linked original publishers. Calculations and graphics: 21CEE. Poll shares are kept as published; result margins use the exact candidate counts in the accessible table. The source clocks above describe the retained snapshot. No certification or original call time is inferred.