Quinnipiac’s out with new numbers from the Florida Democratic Senate primary, and they show businessman Jeff Greene taking the lead. Although “undecided” beat out all three candidates vying for the nomination — something that isn’t new for this race — Greene leads the pack with 33%. Rep. Kendrick Meek is at 23%, and former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre trails with 4%.
These Quinnipiac numbers are the first to show a clear leader in the race. A PPP poll from July 18 put Meek just ahead of Greene 28%-25%, and a Quinnipiac survey from June similarly showed Meek edging Green 29%-27%.
Both Greene and Meek are polling well behind the race’s other two big-name candidates: Gov. Charlie Crist (I) and tea party favorite Marco Rubio (R).
It’s still a volatile contest — 54% of the Democrats surveyed in the recent Quinnipiac poll said they might change their mind before the August 24 primary.
The poll’s margin of error is ±3.5 percentage points.
Full TPMDC coverage of the race here.
Late Update: A spokesperson for the Meek campaign emails to point out that, at the time this poll was conducted, Greene had been advertising on television but Meek had not. Meek has just begun running television ads, the spokesperson added.
