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Updated: Rubio edges out Crist in poll, Crist blames his numbers on bad economy

Posted Jan 26, 2010 by Catherine Whittenburg and William March

Updated Jan 26, 2010 at 11:12 AM

A new poll from Quinnipiac University shows Gov. Charlie Crist trailing 3 percentage points behind challenger Marco Rubio in the GOP primary race for U.S. Senate.

Rubio’s new lead—47 to 44—falls within the statistical margin of error. But it’s a big leap nonetheless for the former House Speaker, who was was trailing Crist by 31 points in a poll last June. 

Here’s what Crist had to say about it, in response to questions from a group of reporters prior to the start of this morning’s Cabinet meeting.

Q: What happened, and what are you going to do to turn it around?
A: I’m going to govern. My first responsibility is to be the governor of the state of Florida, to work hard for the people every single day. To make sure we’re reducing the size of government, that we’re living within our means, that we propose a budget that makes sense. And that’s what I’m focused on.

Q: Well, doesn’t it send you some kind of message?
A: I don’t know if it does or doesn’t. It’s not really my concern. My concern is trying to do the work of the people and make sure we continue to stay focused on that. That’s my job ...

Q: By this poll we see your numbers falling below 50 percent for the first. time. What do you take away from that?
A: We’ve got a tough economy. You know, these are tough times. And you know, for any leader, it’s challenging to lead in difficult times, but we’re going to keep doing it.

The poll results came from a sample of 673 Republicans included in the poll, with a an error margin of 3.8 percentage points. That means either candidate’s total could be expected to vary, up or down, by the amount of the margin.

In the general election matchup, Rubio led Meek 48-36 percent, among a sample of 1,618 registered voters, with an error margin of 2.4 points.