MIAMI, FL-  With five months until election day, Independent senate candidate, Gov. Charlie Crist, edges Republican Marco Rubio in the race for the U.S. Senate seat, 37% to 33 %, with Democrat, U.S. Rep.Kendrick Meek, receiving 17%, in a newly-released Quinnipiac University poll. According to a pollster with the university, even though the race continues to be a dead-heat between Crist and Rubio, Crist (a life-long Republican until he left the party last month to run as non-party independent) has found success in appealing to Florida’s independent voters, but needs to attract more Democrats to have a shot of winning in the Fall.

“Gov. Charlie Crist leads Marco Rubio by a nose in the Senate race.  Obviously there is a long time until November, but the Governor is doing very well among independent voters,  almost as well among Democrats as Meek,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in a statement. “With Rubio getting two-thirds of the Republican vote, the fate of Gov. Crist, who switched from a Republican to independent six weeks ago, depends heavily on his ability to appeal to Democratic voters.”

Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,133 Florida voters in the first week of June, according to a release . The poll holds a margin of error of +/- 2.9 percentage points.