A poll released Thursday shows Democrat Charlie Crist with a seven-point lead over incumbent Republican Rick Scott in the 2014 race for Florida governor. Crist, a former Republican governor who became a registered Democrat last year, leads Scott by a margin of 47% to 40%, according to the Quinnipiac University poll.
A similar poll in June showed Crist leading 47% to 37% in a match-up with Scott.
Quinnipiac University pollster Peter Brown says the campaign will be unique, as voters already have strong opinions on both candidates."For Scott to win, he’s going to have to convince voters that Charlie was not a good governor and that he is a political opportunist", said Brown. "We all expect that he’s going to spend tens of millions of dollars to make that argument."
While the new poll shows the margin narrowing, it also shows that voters continue to have a generally negative view of Scott. 42% said they approved of the way Scott is handling his job, while 47% disapproved.
Voters were evenly split on whether Crist's party-switching is a positive or negative thing. 53% approve of the job Crist did as governor.