Ipsos for Reuters (7/9-11, registered voters, 5/14-18 in parens):
Kendrick Meek (D): 17 (15)
Marco Rubio (R): 28 (27)
Charlie Crist (I): 35 (30)
Undecided: 20 (23)Jeff Greene (D): 18 (NA)
Marco Rubio (R): 29 (NA)
Charlie Crist (I): 34 (NA)
Undecided: 19 (NA)
(MoE: ±4%)
It seems like Charlie Crist successfully threaded the needle with his abandonment of the GOP primary and his move to an independent candidacy; Ipsos finds that he’s leading Marco Rubio and in fact gaining a little ground since their last poll in May. (Worth noting: no pollster other than Rasmussen has given a lead to Rubio since Crist pulled the trigger on his switch.) Democrats Jeff Greene and Kendrick Meek perform at about the same level of futility; either way, it looks like Crist is successfully vacuuming up a big share of center-left votes.
Alex Sink (D): 31 (32)
Bill McCollum (R): 30 (34)
Bud Chiles (I): 12 (NA)
Undecided: 27 (26)Alex Sink (D): 31 (NA)
Rick Scott (R): 34 (NA)
Bud Chiles (I): 12 (NA)
Undecided: 23 (NA)
(MoE: ±4%)
It’s a dramatically different gubernatorial race since the last time Ipsos polled, with Rick Scott having appeared on the scene and spent one-time frontrunner Bill McCollum into near obscurity, and with independent Bud Chiles having launched an inexplicable centrist bid. Here’s an indication of how far McCollum has fallen: now he’s actually trailing Democrat Alex Sink. (The movement is all within the margin of error, though, and Rick Scott has a small lead over Sink instead, probably by virtue of his saturation advertising — although his latest round of advertising, allegedly about his pro-life credentials, may be backfiring, given that the St. Petersburg Times is now calling him “deceitful” and “heartless.”) Interestingly, since the entry of Chiles, this is the second poll to show that Chiles hardly budges the needle at all (rather than taking all his votes out of Sink’s column, as many had feared); he seems to draw evenly from both sides, probably finding most of his support among conservative Dixiecrats.
Apparently, it is better to be very rich than a longtime elected official.
Although for the record, I was in line at 7-11 today and a Meg Whitman commercial came on the radio and as soon as it started, this normal-looking 40-something woman ahead of me in line actually said aloud: “Shut up, Meg Whitman. [then, to me] It’s like she follows me everywhere I go.” I nodded sympathetically. There is such a thing as oversaturation.
I just wished they polled the primary between Meek and Greene.