PPP Poll: Connie Mack Routing GOP Primary Foes

A poll from Public Policy Polling (PPP), a firm with connections to prominent Democrats, released on Thursday, shows U.S. Rep. Connie Mack with a solid lead over his rivals -- former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, former U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon and businessman and retired Army officer Mike McCalister -- for the Republican nomination to challenge Democrat incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. Unlike other polls, the survey shows Nelson beating Mack and LeMieux by 13 percent and McCalister and Weldon by 14 percent.

The poll reveals all four of the Republican hopefuls remain unknown to most voters. Mack is the best known Republican candidate with 19 percent seeing him in a favorable light and 27 percent viewing him as unfavorable. Despite his 16 months in the Senate, only 10 percent see LeMieux as favorable, and 22 percent have an unfavorable view of him. While 9 percent see McCalister as favorable, 13 percent view him in an unfavorable light. Weldon jumped in the race last month and 9 percent see him as favorable and 12 percent as unfavorable.

Like other polls, the PPP survey did show that Mack is ahead of the rest of the Republicans. Mack takes 34 percent of Republicans surveyed followed by LeMieux with 13 percent and McCalister in third with 10 percent. In the first poll that included him, Weldon lags with 6 percent.

PPP polled 448 Florida Republican primary voters from May 31-June 3 with a margin of error of +/- 4.6 percent.