The new Quinnipiac poll of the Florida Senate race shows Gov. Charlie Crist, who switched from Republican to independent in April, continuing to lead Republican rival Marco Rubio — and it also shows Rep. Kendrick Meek, the likely Democratic nominee, continuing to slide.
The numbers: Crist 37%, Rubio 33%, Meek 17%. The survey of registered voters has a ±2.9% margin of error. In mid-April, before Crist’s switch became official, he led a three-way race with 32% of the vote, followed by Rubio at 30% and Meek with 24%. The TPM Poll Average has Crist 35.8%, Rubio 34.7%, and Meek 15.3%.
In the new poll, Crist is winning 51% of independent voters, with Rubio at 26% and Meek at 10%. Among Democratic voters, Meek has a narrow plurality over Crist of 44%-37%, with Rubio at 7%. Among Republicans, Rubio has 64%, Crist 28%, and Meek 2%.
From the pollster’s analysis: “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.”
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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