Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Poll shows Crist way ahead of Rubio in U.S. Senate race

A week after Gov. Charlie Crist announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate and threw the state's 2010 political season into high gear, a new public poll shows him with a big lead over the competition.

Ron Sachs Communications, a public relations and consulting firm, commissioned the Mason-Dixon Polling & Research survey of registered voters.

Respondents said they'd vote for Crist over Republican primary opponent Marco Rubio 53 percent to 18 percent, with 29 percent undecided. Rubio is a former House speaker from Miami.

Against the leading Democrat running for the U.S. Senate seat, Crist is also ahead with 55 percent saying they'd vote for Crist over U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami. In that matchup, 21 percent were undecided.

In the race to replace Crist as governor, the poll showed Republican candidate Attorney General Bill McCollum leading the state's Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink 40 percent to 34 percent, with 26 percent undecided.

"Bill McCollum has just begun to unite the Republican Party behind his candidacy," said Matt Williams, McCollum's campaign manager in a release. "We are overwhelmed by the positive response we have received since his announcement yesterday."

The poll's results reveal that the biggest dog isn't in any race. Former Gov. Jeb Bush, who declared he would not run for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Sen. Mel Martinez's retirement and then publicly dismissed suggestions he run for his old job, had the highest approval ratings of the dozen politicians included in the poll.

Crist came in with a 49 percent approval rating, highest among declared candidates for any statewide seat. But Bush polled a 53 percent approval rating.

The poll was conducted among 625 registered voters from Thursday through Monday. It has a 4 percent margin of error.

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