Current Gov. Scott would likely lose to former Gov. Crist, a poll finds. Fla. poll: Crist crushes Gov. Scott

Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist easily beats the Sunshine State’s current Gov. Rick Scott in a gubernatorial matchup, according to a new poll Wednesday.

Crist — who switched to the Democratic Party after having served as a GOP governor — gets 50 percent while the Republican Scott pulls in 34 percent, with the remainder being undecided or not answering, according to a Quinnipiac Polling Institute survey.


The poll shows that Crist’s political party hopping may have helped him a little — 50 percent of those surveyed say his change from the Republican Party to independent and now to the Democratic Party is positive, while 40 percent view it as a negative.

“The fact that voters think it’s an asset that former Gov. Charlie Crist moved from conservative Republican to a Democrat with very different political views will be a key metric to watch between now and the 2014 voting,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “These numbers indicate Republicans will have a tough job turning around Crist’s lead over Scott by reminding voters of Crist’s evolution.”

Crist has not said if he intends to run again for governor , and it is largely expected that Scott will seek reelection.

Pollsters surveyed 1,000 registered Florida voters from March 13 to March 18 and it has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.