Rubio Down 10 To Crist
FL Gov. Charlie Crist (R) leads ex-state House Speaker Marco Rubio by 10 points, down sharply from the huge advantage Crist held just a few months ago.
According to a new poll from the independent firm Research 2000, conducted for the liberal DailyKos blog, Crist holds a 47% to 37% lead over Rubio. Rubio has attacked Crist from the right, blasting him for not opposing the economic stimulus package earlier this year.
Crist has a wide edge among women voters, but he leads by just 3 points among men. It is the first time DailyKos has polled FL since February, when Crist led a three-person field with 57%; in that survey, Rubio took just 4%.
Now, in general election matchups against Rep. Kendrick Meek (D), Crist leads by a whopping 50% to 33% margin. Meek leads Rubio by a narrower 38% to 30% margin.
As reported by Hotline OnCall, Crist's team acknowledges he has not been as focused on the Senate race of late. Instead, Rubio has been left to attack Crist virtually unchallenged. But now Crist's campaign is preparing new assaults aimed at fighting back before Rubio inflicts damage that cannot be undone.
Crist remains largely popular, with 59% of the state's voters viewing him favorably and 32% seeing him unfavorably. By comparison, Rubio's favorable numbers are just 21%, while Meek's are 23%. Meanwhile, Crist's unfavorable rating among GOPers stands at 26%, 10 points higher than the February number.
In the competitive Gov race, FL AG Bill McCollum (R) leads CFO Alex Sink (D) by a statistically insignificant 35% to 33% margin. Most polls from the Sunshine State have showed little distance between the two.
The Research 2000 poll was conducted 11/16-19 among 600 likely voters for a margin of error of +/- 4%. An oversample of 400 GOP voters had a margin of error of +/- 5%.
(REID WILSON)
IF CRIST WANTS TO ATTACK RUBIO THEN WHY WONT CRIST COME OUT OF THE CLOSET AND DEBATE MARCO LIKE A REAL MAN! COME OUT! COME OUT! WHERE EVER YOU ARE??!!!!!!!
Oh Yeah!! This is just the beginning. We the people are taking back our country.
not only will Rubio win this race handily, he will go on to become this country's first Hispanic president.