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PPP poll: Rubio beats Meek narrowly, Crist easily

Posted Mar 10, 2010 by William March

Updated Mar 10, 2010 at 12:02 PM

The same polling firm showed Marco Rubio widely outdistancing Charlie Crist in the GOP Senate primary now shows that either Republican would beat Kendrick Meek, but only narrowly in Rubio’s case.

Crist’s campaign yesterday questioned the polling numbers from North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling because it’s a Democratic-oriented firm that uses “robocalls” rather than human callers for its interviews. It showed Rubio with a whopping 60-28 lead over Crist among GOP likely voters.

But the firm’s web site, where you can see today’s results, includes a 2008 Wall Street Journal story praising its accuracy in swing states.

The general election figures from today’s release: Rubio 44, Meek 39; Crist 46, Meek 33; and in a three-way with Crist as an independent, Rubio 34, Crist 27 and Meek 25.

The poll also found Crist, despite his recent drop in popularity, retains a bare majority favorable rating among Florida voters, 51-35 percent, but is more popular among Democrats and independents than with his own party. His approval was 45 percent among Democrats, 29 percent among independents and 28 percent among Republicans.

Despite that odd result, Crist has ruled out leaving the GOP to run as an independent.