MIAMI- In a three way race, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, an independent, is leading his closest competitor, Republican Marco Rubio, 37 % to 32%, with the Democratic front-runner Jeff Greene trailing at 17% , according to a Quinnipiac poll released this morning. If Congressman Kendrick Meek — a former shoo-in for the Democratic nod who now trails Greene by 10 points— were to pull off an upset win in next month’s election, Crist would increase his lead from 39 % to 33 % over Rubio with Meek behind at 13%.

“There has been little movement in the Senate race over the past two months. Gov. Charlie Crist’s small lead comes as neither Democrat breaks 20 percent in the trial heats. If that were to be the case in November, Gov. Crist would have a very good chance to win. But if the Democratic nominee can move into the mid-to-high 20s, Crist’s chances decrease substantially,” Peter A. Brown from Quinnipiac’s Polling Institute said in an email.

Brown also noted that Crist is currently only getting 20% of GOP voters, but 50% of independent voters, and a remarkable 40% of Florida Democrats surveyed support the curent Florida governor, a life-long Republican, who left his party in the Spring to run as an independent in the open Senate race.

Crist’s margin in the general election matchups compare to a 37 – 33 – 17 & lead with Meek in the race and 40 – 33 – 14 % with Greene running in a June 9 poll, according to Quinnipiac’s analysis.

From July 22 – 27, Quinnipiac University surveyed 969 Florida voters with a margin of error of +/- 3.2 percentage points.

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