A new poll from Quinnipiac University released Thursday had state CFO Alex Sink, the likely Democratic nominee, ahead of both of the Republicans in the gubernatorial race and had Gov. Charlie Crist, running without party affiliation, ahead of Republican Marco Rubio and both of the leading Democrats in the U.S. Senate contest. The poll had Sink with 31 percent, Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum with 29 percent and independent candidate Bud Chiles with 12 percent. When McCollum was replaced as the Republican nominee, Sink had 33 percent, Scott 29 percent and Chiles still had 12 percent.
“Once the primary is over, the race for governor will be one to define Alex Sink for the majority of Floridians who don’t know enough about her to have an opinion,” said Peter Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. While Scott and McCollum have bombarded each other with attack ads, so far in the campaign there have been few attacks on Sink.
Crist took 39 percent in the poll with Rubio in second with 32 percent. U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek pulled a distant third with 16 percent if he is the Democratic nominee. When Jeff Greene replaced Meek as the Democrat in the race, Crist took 40 percent, Rubio remained at 32 percent and Greene trailed behind with 15 percent.
The poll of 1,096 Floridians, taken between Aug. 11-16, had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent. Check out the poll results from these and other races in our Numbers section.
