Poll shows Boyd in tight race with Lawson

A poll commissioned by Al Lawson's campaign shows him even with U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd in the Democratic primary for the 2nd Congressional District.

In the head-to-head match up, Lawson took 34.9 percent to Boyd's 30.7 percent, a slight lead that fell within the 4.6 percent margin of error, the results from The Research Network poll showed.

For Lawson, the Democratic leader in the Florida Senate, this a victory, his campaign manager Josh Robinson said, especially considering that Boyd has been running television ads for weeks.

More numbers below.

A closer look at the Daily Kos' U.S. Senate GOP primary poll

The liberal Daily Kos blog has released a poll with some intriguing results in Florida's Republican U.S. Senate race between Gov. Charlie Crist and former House Speaker Marco Rubio. Crist leads 47 percent to 37 percent among likely Republican voters, according to the poll, which is bad for the governor for two reasons:

A) That's a 43-percentage-point swing in 10 months.

B) The once-wildly popular Crist is below 50 percent.

If Crist switched parties to become a Democrat or an independent, the poll suggests he would do better.

Poll: Marco Rubio closing gap on Gov. Charlie Crist, Gov race tied

Robo poll from liberal DailyKos and Research 2000: Gov. Charlie Crist leads Rubio 47 percent to 37 percent among Republicans. In January, Crist led 57 percent to 11 percent. Among all voters, Crist beats Kendrick Meek 50-33, while Meek beats Rubio 38-30. Birthers prefer Rubio 54-31.

These trendlines are bleak for Crist, and there's little chance of him surviving. Remember, Rubio hasn't spent a dime on media yet. This is all grassroots driven, and the teabaggers are engaged, angry, and looking for the next Scozzafava. Crist is in their crosshairs, and the governor has been flopping all over the place hoping to stem this growing tide against him, and failing. Note -- 50 percent of Republicans still don't know who Rubio is. The more he raises his name ID, the better he does. 

The Fix calls 10 the most important number of the day.

 

Okaloosa straw poll goes for Rubio, McCollum, Putnam

Chalk up another straw poll victory for Marco Rubio. He garnered 86 votes to Gov. Charlie Crist's 4 votes during a straw poll today hosted by the Okaloosa Republican Exec Committee.

The straw poll, open to the public with a $20 admission fee, is the latest straw poll to lean heavily in Rubio's favor -- though it won't be clear until election day whether the small voting exercises (typically attended by the more conservative party faction) translate into a win for Rubio in the U.S. Senate Republican primary.

The poll also favored AG Bill McCollum over new opponent Sen. Paula Dockery, and gave Rep. Pat Patterson a win over Senate President and mega fundraiser Jeff Atwater. We hear Patterson attended the straw poll event and spoke to the group.

Here's the full tally:

Times/Herald poll: Independent voters in Florida shifting toward GOP

Independent voters are more likely to side with Republicans than with Democrats on issues facing Floridians, according to a poll conducted for the St. Petersburg Times, Miami Herald and Bay News 9.

Whether it's opposing a so-called public option for government-run health insurance, supporting oil drilling or a general feeling that the nation is on the wrong track, independents are proving a key ally for conservatives.

The more conservative sentiment is a reversal from a year ago, when Times/Herald/Bay News 9 polls showed that independents leaned more Democratic. (story here)

Poll: Charlie Crist approval at 42%; Gov race tied

The bottom is falling out beneath Florida’s once hugely popular governor.
A new St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald/Bay News 9 poll finds only 42 percent of likely Florida voters think Charlie Crist is doing a good or excellent job as governor, by far the worst approval rating of Crist’s 34 months in office. Thirty-nine percent said he was doing a fair job and 16 percent poor.
Even most fellow Republicans don’t like the job he’s doing. That 51 percent of them rate Crist’s performance as fair or poor is particularly ominous for someone facing an aggressive U.S. Senate primary challenge from former state House Speaker Marco Rubio of Miami.
“After nearly three uneventful years in the people’s mansion in which unemployment has reached double-digits across the state and the real estate boom turned into a foreclosure nightmare, Charlie Crist has finally made something drop like a rock — his approval ratings,” said pollster Tom Eldon.
Still, Crist’s political troubles appear to be more about his own vulnerability than Rubio’s strength.
In the Senate race, the poll found 50 percent of Republicans backing Crist, 28 percent Rubio, and 22 percent undecided. Even little-known and 22 points behind, however, Rubio poses a real threat to the self-described “people’s governor” no longer appreciated so much by people who overwhelmingly see Florida headed in the wrong direction.

Poll: Voters support drilling

Florida voters want offshore oil drilling (but not really in Tampa Bay), oppose a so-called "public option'' for health insurance and overwhelmingly support a gambling agreement with the Seminole Tribe, according to a new St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald/Bay News 9 poll.

The common link among the three issues: the economy.

A full 44 percent of Florida voters said their personal financial situation worsened in the past year. Just 7 percent said it improved, and 48 percent said it stayed the same in a state racked by record unemployment, home foreclosures and budget deficits. By double-digit margins, Florida voters also believe the state and nation are on the wrong track.

With numbers like that, oil drilling is no longer a killer in Florida politics. And even the religious right supports a Seminole gaming deal — favored by 59 percent of voters overall — to bolster the state budget.

Health care ranked as the top concern, with 39 percent of voters saying it was most important to them. The No. 2 issue: unemployment, at 19 percent.

(Story here)

PBA poll: Crist 53%, Rubio 29%

Looks like Charlie Crist's buddies at the PBA areeager to knock down the growing Buzz that the governor looks increasingly vulnerable against Marco Rubio. The police union today released partial results from a private Oct. 12-13 poll it commissioned from McLaughlin & Associates. The survey of 500 likely Republican voters: Crist 52.8%;  Rubio: 29.4; Undecided: 17.8%.

“This poll shows that the Gov. Crist beats his challenger handily, and the Governor also has an extremely high approval rating,” said David Murrell, Executive Director of the Florida PBA. He said the poll shows Crist with a 67.4 percent approval rating.

“It appears that Republican voters are quite satisfied with Governor Crist’s management of the affairs of Florida and approve of his campaign for the U.S. Senate,” continued Murrell. “His numbers would be the envy of any candidate.”

Poll: Bill McCollum 46%, Alex Sink 35%; Crist approval 49%

Rasmussen robo poll: Republican hopeful Bill McCollum now has a double-digit lead over his likeliest Democratic competitor, Alex Sink, in Florida’s 2010 race for governor, but the race between the two is little changed from June.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Florida voters shows McCollum leading Sink 46% to 35%. Five percent (5%) favor another candidate, and 15% are undecided. Four months ago, McCollum had an eight-point lead 42% to 34%.

...McCollum leads by 14 points among men and by eight among women. In June, women voters were almost evenly divided between the two candidates. Voters not affiliated with either major party favor McCollum by eight points, but 28% of these voters are undecided.

...Florida voters are evenly divided over the job performance of the state’s current GOP governor, Charlie Crist. Forty-nine percent (49%) approve of the job he’s doing, while the same number (49%) disapprove. Thirteen percent (13%) strongly approve while 20% strongly disapprove.

Poll: Charlie Crist 49%, Marco Rubio 35%

Rasmussen robo poll: The contest for the 2010 Republican Senate nomination in Florida is a little closer this month, but Governor Charlie Crist still holds a 14-point lead over former state House Speaker Marco Rubio.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephne survey of likely GOP Primary voters in the state finds Crist outdistancing Rubio 49% to 35%. Four percent (4%) like some other candidate, and 12% are undecided.

In mid-August, Crist was beating Rubio by 22 points among GOP Primary voters – 53% to 31%. That was Rasmussen Reports’ first poll of next year's Republican Primary race.

The fact that Crist has fallen below 50% in a primary against a lesser known opponent suggests potential vulnerability.