New Q Polls: Marco Rubio Up by 7 Over Charlie Crist, Alex Sink Ahead of Rick Scott by 4

Submitted by Kevin Derby on October 28, 2010 - 9:22am

Quinnipiac University released two polls on Thursday morning, looking at the U.S. Senate election and the gubernatorial contest. The poll of the Senate race found that, while Republican Marco Rubio was still ahead, Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running with no party affiliation, was starting to close the gap at the expense of Democratic nominee U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek. Rubio took 42 percent with Crist in second with 35 percent; Meek lagged in third with 15 percent. The last poll Quinnipiac did in early October had Rubio with 44 percent, Crist at 30 percent and Meek with 22 percent.

Gov. Charlie Crist has cut into Rubio's margin, but the former state House speaker remains the clear favorite to become Florida's next U.S. senator," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "With his supporters less likely to change their minds than those of his two opponents, Marco Rubio is in the driver's seat with only five days to go until Election Day. Most of the closure came not from Rubio voters deserting him, but from Congressman Kendrick Meek's voters moving to Crist.

"Governor Crist has pulled within hailing distance of Rubio, but there are a couple of unique factors that probably work against him in the home stretch, added Brown. First of all, he is listed at the bottom of the ballot below a number of unknown independent and minor-party candidates. And, since he is without a party, he lacks the ground operation that the Democrats and Republicans have to turn out their voters."

Quinnipiac found Democratic candidate CFO Alex Sink leading the gubernatorial race by a closer margin, edging Republican nominee Rick Scott with 45 percent to 41 percent. Quinnipiac had Scott with 45 percent and Sink at 44 percent earlier in the month.

"Although the governor's race remains very close, CFO Alex Sink has had a good week," said Brown. "But with one in eight voters still in play and Scott's supporters slightly more solid in support, this race looks like it will go to the finish line as a dead heat."

The poll of 784 likely voters was taken between October 18-24 and had a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percent.

For a look at the latest polling data, click here.

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