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Survey shows Crist's lead growing in governor's race

TALLAHASSEE - Attorney General Charlie Crist has opened a double-digit lead over three other gubernatorial candidates among likely voters, a new poll released Tuesday shows.

Crist led Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, 43 percent to 27 percent, among regular Republican voters with nearly a third still undecided, according to the Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. poll.

The Democratic candidates, U.S. Rep. Jim Davis of Tampa and state Sen. Rod Smith of Alachua, remained largely unknown among that party's voters. The survey showed Davis favored by 28 percent, Smith by 9 percent.

Either Republican would win against Davis if the election were held now, the poll indicated. The March 21-23 survey of 625 registered voters showed Crist defeating Davis 43 percent to 28 percent and Gallagher winning 42 percent to 32 percent.

"It's still very early," Davis spokeswoman Danae Jones said.

"If the election were held today, it appears none of the above would win better than 2-to-1" Smith responded. "I think that tells you it's a wide-open race."

"Some people run their campaigns on polls and how much money they've raised," Gallagher said. "Other people do it on policy and substance, and I'm the policy and substance guy."

"The Gallagher campaign needs four out five undecided voters just to tie," Crist campaign spokeswoman Vivian Myrtetus said. "That's a pretty significant amount considering he has never won a tough election."

[Last modified March 29, 2006, 01:23:20]