Rick Scott Leads Charlie Crist in Florida Chamber Poll

The Florida Chamber Political Institute (FCPI), affiliated with the Florida Chamber of Commerce, released a poll on Monday which has Scott out front with 43 percent while Crist garners 39 percent. Libertarian Adrian Wyllie takes 4 percent while 5 percent back other candidates and 7 percent are undecided. The Florida Chamber is backing Scott for another term.

The poll shows both Scott and Crist are doing well with their bases. Scott is backed by 73 percent of Republicans while 72 percent of Democrats support Crist, who left the GOP in 2010 to run for the U.S. Senate with no party affiliation before joining the Democrats in December 2012. Voters outside the two major parties go Scotts way 41 percent while Crist takes 34 percent. Wyllie draws the backing of 8 percent of voters outside the major parties and 3 percent of Republicans and 2 percent of Democrats.

Florida voters are smart, said Marian Johnson, a senior vice president of the FCPI, on Monday. They continue recognizing Gov. Scott is doing what he said he would do. More than 640,000 private-sector jobs have been created since December 2010, our education initiatives are working, and Florida families and small businesses continue to see opportunities for growth. The fact that a majority of polls throughout the last six to eight weeks show voters continuing to prefer Rick Scott over other candidates is a sign that his numbers are solid.

I believe a major reason Charlie Crist is visibly losing support is because voters are beginning to realize that Rick Scotts focus on jobs is working and that Florida continues to move in the right direction, said Mark Wilson, the president and CEO of the Florida Chamber.

The poll of 813 likely voters was taken from Sept. 18-21 and had a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percent.