Marco Rubio Edges Past Charlie Crist in Florida Race for GOP Senate Nod

Former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, whose candidacy has been embraced by Tea Party activists and Republican conservatives, has edged ahead of Gov. Charlie Crist in their battle for the GOP Senate nomination, according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted Jan. 20-24.

Rubio leads 47 percent to 44 percent among registered Republicans with 8 percent undecided. The margin of error is 2.4 points. In October, Crist had led 50 percent to 35 percent and last June was ahead 54 percent to 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," said Quinnipiac's Peter Brown. "He enters the race 31 points behind and seven months later sneaks into the lead."

"It is a reasonable assumption that the anger towards incumbents we are seeing around the country has hurt the governor, who is the virtual incumbent in this race," Brown added.

Republicans in the survey said by 45 percent to 40 percent that Rubio shares their values more than Crist. Thirteen percent were undecided. Those who described themselves as conservatives held that view by 52 percent to 35 percent, with 10 percent undecided. They said by a 48 percent to 34 percent margin that Rubio was more consistently conservative than Crist. Seventeen percent were undecided.

Asked if their choice would be changed if they were told that Crist would definitely win the general election but Rubio might not, almost three-quarters said it would make no difference.

The poll tested Crist and Rubio against Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek and both beat him by similar margins.

Among the overall electorate, Rubio is still relatively unknown, with 53 percent saying they hadn't heard enough about him to express a favorable or unfavorable opinion.

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