A just released Quinnipiac poll finds Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, running as an independent in the U.S. Senate race, beating out Republican Marco Rubio 37 – 33 percent. Democratic Representative, Kendrick Meek gets 17 percent. If Jeff Greene is the Democratic nominee, Crist is out front of Rubio 40- 33 percent, with 14 percent for Greene.
“Gov. Charlie Crist leads Marco Rubio by a nose in the Senate race. Obviously there is a long time until November, but the Governor is doing very well among independent voters, almost as well among Democrats as Meek, and better among Democrats than Greene,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “With Rubio getting two-thirds of the Republican vote, the fate of Gov. Crist, who switched from a Republican to independent six weeks ago, depends heavily on his ability to appeal to Democratic voters.”
The poll revealed that in a three way race with Meek, Crist gets 28 percent of Republicians, 37 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of independents. If Greene is the Democratic nominee, the poll revealed that Crist gets 28 percent of Republicans, 46 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of independent voters. The poll also revealed that Rubio will receive just about the same percentage among democratic or independent voters, with Meek or Greene as the Democratic nominee. If Meek is the nominee, Rubio gets just 7 percent of Democrats and 26 percent independents; if Greene is the nominee, he gets 6 percent and 25 percent, respectively.
Gov. Crist has substantial name recognition, the poll found, with only 11 percent of voters saying they don’t know enough about him to have an opinion. Compared with Rubio, that number is a high 34 percent. Not surprisingly, more than 69 percent don’t know enough about Meek or Greene to have formed an opinion.
The poll was conducted from June 1-7, among 1,133 Florida voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
