Marco Rubio - U.S. Senate - 2010

Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times
Poll: Marco Rubio Leads Charlie Crist
By Marc Caputo
Tuesday, 1/26/2010

Gov. Charlie Crist has a large cash advantage over Marco Rubio and ample time to catch up before the Aug. 24 primary. For the first time, a new poll shows that Gov. Charlie Crist is losing to former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio in Florida’s nationally watched Republican U.S. Senate race.

Rubio leads by just three percentage points — 47-44 — which is well within the error margin of the Quinnipiac University poll.

Crist has a large cash advantage over Rubio and ample time to catch up before the Aug. 24 primary. Yet the trend of Rubio’s rise and Crist’s fall is stark and troubling for the governor, who once looked like he would waltz into the Senate.

In October, Crist led 50-35 percent. In August, Crist’s lead was even bigger (55-26) and in June the race looked like Crist would blow out Rubio by 54-23 percent.

“Who would have thunk it? A former state lawmaker virtually unknown outside of his South Florida home whose challenge to an exceedingly popular sitting governor for a U.S. Senate nomination had many insiders scratching their heads. He enters the race 31 points behind and seven months later sneaks into the lead,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

“And, the horse race numbers are not a fluke. Rubio also tops Crist on a number of other measurements from registered Republicans, who are the only folks who can vote in the primary,” Brown said. “Rubio’s grass-roots campaigning among Republican activists around the state clearly has paid off.”

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