UPDATE: Crist shrugged off the poll results this morning, telling reporters that his main responsibility was to govern and “fight for the people.” Rubio’s campaign sent out a press release announcing the results, but did not offer a reaction.

Marco Rubio, who once trailed Gov. Charlie Crist by 31 points in polling on the 2010 Republican Senate primary, now has a narrow lead in the race, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this morning.

The poll shows former Florida House speaker Rubio with 47 percent to Crist’s 44 percent among Republicans, a lead within the poll’s margin of error.

The poll also finds Florida voters disapprove of President Obama’s job performance by a 49-to-45 percent margin.

In hypothetical general election matchups, Rubio tops Democratic Senate front-runner Kendrick Meek by a 44-35 margin while Crist tops Meek 48-36.

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That poll found Crist with a comfortable lead in a hypothetical Senate matchup against Democratic frontrunner Kendrick Meek, but found Meek with a narrow lead in a Meek-Rubio matchup.

A Rasmussen poll of Florida voters released later in the day finds Crist with 14 point lead over Rubio in a GOP primary, down from 22 points in August.

Rasmussen has Crist leading Meek by 12 points (compared to 20 points in the Quinnipiac poll). And while Quinnipiac gives Meek a 36-to-32 percent lead over Rubio, Rasmussen finds Rubio beating Meek, 46-to-31 percent.

Three-quarters of Floridians support Gov. Charlie Crist’s $536 million bid to buy farmland from U.S. Sugar Corp. for Everglades restoration, according to a poll commissioned by the deal’s backers.

The Everglades Foundation’s poll of 600 likely Florida voters found that of the 75 percent who support the deal, 41 percent “strongly support” it, said pollster Jim Kitchens, of The Kitchens Group.

More here.

Worries about President Obama’s health-care proposals have contributed to his plummeting popularity among Floridians, according to poll results released Thursday, leaving him in a virtual tie between those who approve and disapprove of his performance.

Obama’s 47-percent approval rating among likely Florida voters was the lowest in the nation of any poll conducted by Quinnipiac University. The president’s approval rating in Florida dropped 11 points since June, the poll found.

In Thursday’s results, 48 percent of likely Florida voters disapproved of Obama’s performance. The survey had a margin of error of 3 percent.

The poll also found that nearly three out of four Floridians don’t trust Obama to keep his promise to reform health care without increasing the federal budget deficit.

On the other hand, the poll found that a majority of voters — 58 to 36 percent — support creating a government-backed health insurance plan to compete with private insurers, despite protests from opponents who liken the concept to socialism.

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Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum edged out Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, a Democrat, by 38-34 percent in the latest Quinnipiac University poll. Twenty percent of the state’s likely voters polled remain undecided.

That flip-flops Sink’s 38-34 percent lead among likely Florida voters two months ago. Sink remains relatively unknown to Floridians, according to the poll from Aug. 12-17 of 1,136 likely voters. Nearly two-thirds of those polled said they don’t know enough about her to have an opinion of her job performance.

McCollum and Sink are both leaving office after one term in pursuit of the governor’s mansion. Gov. Charlie Crist is also vacating after one term to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, who stepped down before his first term in Washington is complete.

The poll also shows Crist with a healthy 55-26 percent lead over GOP primary opponent, former House Speaker Marco Rubio. In June, Crist held a 54-23 percent margin over Rubio.

Sink

McCollum

The poll also shows McCollum with a large lead over potential GOP primary challenger Sen. Paula Dockery, 53% to 4%.

In the Democratic Primary for Attorney General, Florida state senators Dan Gelber and Dave Aronberg remain essentially tied, with 11% and 10% respectively.

In the GOP CFO race, Florida Senate President Jeff Atwater of North Palm Beach leads Florida Rep. Pat Patterson of DeLand, 17% to 10%.

From Rasmussen Reports today: Bill McCollum 42%, Alex Sink 34%, undecided 18%.

The poll also showed Republican Gov. Charlie Crist with a 60 percent approval rating.

On Wednesday, this Rassumussen poll showed Crist leading, 46% to 28%, over Democrat Kendrick Meek in a potential U.S. Senate matchup.

The latest Quinnipiac University poll of Florida voters shows Gov. Charlie Crist with a 54-to-23 percent lead over former state House Speaker Marco Rubio in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

Among Democratic voters, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek leads the field with 18 percent. More than half of Democratic voters are undecided. Eighty percent of Floridians, including 74 percent of Dems, say they don’t know enough about Meek to form an opinion.

Among all Florida voters, Crist has a higher job-approval rating (62 percent positive, 28 percent negative) than President Obama (58-35).

Click here to read the entire poll.

Taken June 2-7, the poll doesn’t include former New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith, who recently launched a Republican campaign for Senate.

A Mason-Dixon poll shows Gov. Charlie Crist with at 53%-18% over former House Speaker Marco Rubio in a primary for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination.

Republican Bill McCollum has a 39%-12% advantage over Charles Bronson in a hypothetical GOP primary for governor, but 49% of Republican voters are undecided.

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As Congress gears up for a debate over the labor-backed Employee Free Choice Act, unions are touting a a new Gallup poll that finds 53 percent of Americans favor a law “that would make it easier for labor unions to organize workers.”

Beyond that fuzzy concept, however, it appears voters in Florida are uncomfortable with a key aspect of the proposed legislation.

The bill would make it easier for unions to form by allowing them to bypass current requirements that employee votes on whether to unionize be conducted by secret ballot. Instead, a union could form if a majority of workers sign authorization forms.

A new Florida poll commissioned by foes of the congressional bill finds that 86 percent of the state’s voters favor a proposed state constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to cast a secret ballot in all elections, including employee votes on whether to unionize.

To read the polling memo, click here.

House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, is heading efforts to get the constitutional question on the Florida ballot in 2010. If Congress passes the Employee Free Choice Act and Florida voters approve the secret-ballot amendment, courts would likely decide which measure would take precedence in Florida.