Posted on 06/09/2010 8:41:14 AM PDT by MissesBush
Republican Marco Rubio and Republican-turned-independent Charlie Crist are tied this month in Florida’s topsy-turvy race for the U.S. Senate.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the Sunshine State finds Rubio and Crist each earning 37% of the vote, while Democratic hopeful Kendrick Meek trails with 15% support. Eleven percent (11%) are undecided.
A month ago, Rubio held an eight-point advantage over Crist.
Sixty percent (60%) of Florida voters now approve of the job Crist is doing as governor, up three points from a month ago. Thirty-seven percent (37%) disapprove. As governor, Crist has been very visible in addressing the Gulf Oil Spill
Still, 39% of all voters in the state say Crist will be hurt most by the ongoing investigation of alleged financial irregularities in the state Republican Party, while 31% think Rubio will be hurt the most.
Seventy-four percent (74%) say the probe of the state party’s finances is at least somewhat important to how they will vote, with 47% who say it is Very Important.
But it’s important to note that only half the voters in the state say they are following news reports about the arrest of the former state GOP party head even somewhat closely.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
This statewide telephone survey of 500 Likely Voters in Florida was conducted on June 7, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/-4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
One consistent thing in the Senate race for months has been the third-place showing of Meek, a congressman from the North Miami area. Now Meek who was considered a shoo-in for his party’s Senate nomination now faces a challenger in the Democratic Primary, Palm Beach billionaire real estate investor Jeff Greene, who’s been introducing himself to Florida voters via statewide television ads.
If Greene is the Democrat in the race, Crist’s support rises to 41%, while Rubio remains at 37%. Greene picks up 13% of the vote, with 10% undecided. A modest number of Democrats and unaffiliateds shift to Crist if Greene is in the race.
Both Rubio, the former speaker of the Florida House, and Crist, who abandoned the GOP Primary race when his numbers went into freefall, have faced questions in recent weeks about their ties to the now-indicted former head of the state Republican Party. Meanwhile, Meek and Greene are attacking each other on TV and in appearances around the state.
Fifty-six percent (56%) of Florida voters favor repeal of the national health care bill, while 37% are opposed. This includes 46% who Strongly Favor repeal and 32% who Strongly Oppose it.
Crist is viewed Very Favorably by 19% and Very Unfavorably by 13%.
Twenty-three percent (23%) have a Very favorable opinion of Rubio, while 17% regard him Very Unfavorably.
For Meek, Very Favorables are nine percent (9%) and Very Unfavorables 15%.
Greene, the race’s newcomer, is seen Very Favorably by six percent (6%) and Very Unfavorably by 18%.
At this point in a campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with a strong opinion more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers.
Florida’s budget situation isn’t as severe as in many other states, but 78% in Florida still believe that the unwillingness of politicians to control government spending is a bigger problem than the unwillingness of voters to pay enough in taxes. Just 10% say voters are the bigger problem.
Forty-six percent (46%) of Florida voters approve of the job President Obama is doing, down four points from a month ago, while 53% disapprove. That’s similar voter sentiments nationally in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.
Rasmussen Reports has recently surveyed Senate races in Arizona, Alabama, Nevada, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, California,Colorado, Washington, Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Connecticut, Illinois, North Carolina, Iowa, Vermont, Wisconsin, Idaho, Washington and Hawaii.
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“Moderates” don’t care how crooked Crist and his cronies are or how much they’ve already stolen. “Moderate” means anything goes as long as I get mine!
Marco will win by about 6-7%. Big story today is that Zero’s popularity in Florida is tanking, hard and fast..so Crist is looking for support over there?..and with Meeks under the bus already..blacks will stay at home...
The question is - will Crist’s formal divorce from social conservatism (removing all pro-marriage, pro-life stuff from his website, etc.) end up driving away any of his remaining hard-core supporters back to Rubio?
A close race invites ACORN and other Democrat voter-fraud organizations.
Rubio coming out against AZ law was a big mistake. He just proved what some Floridians were worried about - He is Mel Martinez 2. The upstate conservative types think down state Latins emigres are for amnesty and open-borders.
Rubio should have agreed with AZ law because it is the same as Federal Law. He came off as a Latin American politcian not an American politician. If I was running - I would work for all the people not my clan or ethnic background. Big mistake.
Crist is so pathetic and disgusting. You cannot trust him but some people will not trust Rubio after AZ.
I think Crist is benefitting from the oil spill...gives him a chance to phony up and pretend he’s a leader. The fact is there’s more oil on Charlie’s hair than on Florida’s beaches.
The Dems are going to eventually pump a lot of money Crist’s way.
The issue seems to be who bleeds more....Crist losing the black votes to Meek or Rubio losing the RINO vote to Crist.
Going to be close...Rubio would have torched Meek...but this dynamic is a mess.
That’s a good point, and probably true to some extent..but happily for us, the oil hasn’t hit yet...
I was speaking to a guy who now lives in Florida. Usd to be a teacher in PA. He said Crist is an independent thinker. My friend liked that.
I asked my long-time friend if supported Onadacare, stimulus, tax and cap, cessation of off shore drilling and abortion. He said no. I asked him if he was aware Christ supported all those things. He said no and we left the conversation at that.
Apparently Rubio hhas resonated more outside Florida than in the state. He needs to bring the sunshine on Crist in a hurry and relentlessly if he expects to beat the man.
this is the first poll I’ve seen with Rubio not behind crist...one intelligent freeper from Fl. pointed out more than a month ago 37% was the high water mark for crist and thus far he’s been correct....
Damn... As much as I detest Crist, his going (I) was a diabolically brilliant move. It put him right back in the game. Not that he has anything like scruples, but he did re-shuffle the deck. Now all he needs to do is look leader-ly through the rest of the year and he has a better-than-even shot at winning.
That’s assuming any conservatives are stupid enough to still support this crook.
Since Crist went Independent, he has seen an initial lead of 9% go progressively to 6% then 3% and now a tie. The TREND is Rubio’s friend.
And we know damn well, if Crist wins, he’s not going to give any pretense toward being a GOPer. He’ll be a dem all the way.
Unfortunately, there probably are many who, frankly, aren't keen on Rubio because he's a Messcan (actually, Cuban). Wonder if they'll like Charlie now that they can see that he's a baby-killin' queerboy?
Finally why would Crist improve his numbers? Because he doesn't want drilling anywhere on the planet. Will that hold up? Not likely. Marco by 6 points.
The only way Crist wins is if Meek absolutely tanks. But as the campaign heats up I expect Meek will win more and more of the Democrat base, and it's not either Crist or Meek will be taking any conservative support from Rubio!
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