Republican Marco Rubio has jumped out to a 46 percent to 33 percent lead among likely voters over independent Gov. Charlie Crist in the U.S. Senate race, with U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek garnering 18 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
Pollsters say Rubio is benefiting from voter anger at the federal government, with nearly half of respondents say they are angry and almost 8 in 10 saying they're dissatisfied or angry with Washington.
Even though Crist is losing in the Senate race, he still gets OK approval ratings as governor, with 51 percent of Floridians happy with the governor and 43 percent disapproving.
Crist does best among Democrats, 72 percent of whom approve of his job performance. But only 46 percent of them say they'll vote for him for Senate. And he doesn't get enough no-party voters.
The Quinnipiac Poll of 1,151 likely voters had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points and was taken Sept. 23-28.
