Poll: Crist holds small lead in Senate race

Gov. Charlie Crist leads narrowly in the three-way race for a Florida Senate seat, and Republicans Bill McCollum and Rick Scott both barely edge out Alex Sink in a governor's race that's a statistical tie, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.

The numbers in the Senate race:

• With Jeff Greene as the Democratic nominee, Crist, a no-party candidate, gets 37 percent, Republican Marco Rubio 32 percent Greene 17 percent.

• With Kendrick Meek as the Democratc nominee, Crist gets 39 percent, Rubio 33 percent and Meek 13 percent.

The pollsters found Crist getting half the no-party and minor-party about 20 percent of Republicans and about 40 percent of Democrats. He retains 53 percent voter approval of his job as Governor.

Pollster Peter Brown noted that if either Democratic candidate in the Senate race improved his standing, Crist's lead would be threatened.

The numbers in the governor's race, where Scott and McCollum are battling in a primary for the Republican nomination:

• Scott outran Sink 29 percent to 27 percent, with no-party candidate Bud Chiles at 14 percent.

• McCollum got 27 percent to 26 percent for Sink and 14 percent for Chiles.

Both McCollum and Scott had "upside-down" favorability ratings, Brown said-more voters have unfavorable opinions of them than favorable. That's a likely result of th negative advertising campaigns both are using against each other.

McCollum got 43-27 percent unfavorable-unfavorable ratings, and Scott 29-30 percent. For both candidates, that's a reversal from plurality favorable ratings they had in the same poll in June.

In another finding, the poll showed Florida voters favor a constitutional amendment to ban oil drilling within 10 miles of the Florida shore by 62 percent to 34 percent; and they favored having a referendum on the question on the ballot by 72-24 percent. Last week, Republican leaders in the state Legislature refused even to consider the question, and cut short a special legislative session called by Crist to consider the issue.