Marco Rubio Posts Big Lead Over Charlie Crist in Florida Senate Race

Republican Marco Rubio holds a double-digit lead over independent Charlie Crist in the Florida Senate race, with Democrat Kendrick Meek in third place, according to a poll of likely voters conducted Sept. 1-5 by Susquehanna Research for the Sunshine State News.

Rubio leads Crist by 43 percent to 29 percent with 23 percent for Meek and 5 percent undecided. The margin of error is 3 points.

Meek's showing is a little better than previous ones. If he gains more ground, it would be bad news for Crist, who cannot afford to see his share of Democratic votes diminish.

Crist is attracting 35 percent of the Democratic vote while Meek right now has only 45 percent support from his own party.

Republican consultant John Wehrung told the Miami Herald, ``The next 10 days are critical for Kendrick Meek because he really has to show Democrats in this state and in Washington in particular that he has a shot, that he's a viable candidate who can win. There's a blinking red light in the corner of Kendrick Meek's eye warning him that Charlie Crist is stealing all his Democrats and he needs to find a way to get them back, like now.''

Rubio gets 70 percent support among fellow Republicans while Crist holds on to 21 percent of voters from his former party.

Rubio edges Crist among independent voters by 38 percent to 36 percent with Meek getting just 16 percent.

"Crist can't win this race if he doesn't peel back some of Rubio's support among independents," Pollster Jim Lee told Sunshine. "With only 5 percent of voters remaining undecided, there is not a lot of room to grow for any of the candidates."

A CNN/Time/Opinion Research poll published Wednesday had Rubio ahead of Crist by a statistically insignificant 36 percent to 34 percent, but that survey was of registered voters. This close to the election, most pollsters believe that likely-voter surveys are the more accurate predictors.

Rasmussen Reports' first poll following Meek's victory in the Democratic primary on Aug. 24 had Rubio ahead of Crist by 40 percent to 30 percent with 21 percent for Meek. Rasmussen also surveyed likely voters.

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