An Aug. 28-31 internal poll (with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent) for the Charlie Crist campaign points to a two-man race - Crist vs. Marco Rubio, who are virtually tied - while Meek remains an also-ran after his big primary win over Jeff Greene.

Crist and Meek split the Democratic vote, 37 percent each, while Crist pulls 21 percent of the Republican vote, compared to 66 percent for Rubio. Crist gets 55 percent of independents, compared to 24 percent for Rubio

From pollster Keith Frederick:

Several factors point to the consistent dynamic of this race going forward as a Crist-Rubio battle …
• Crist’s reservoir of positive image ratings (60 percent) above and beyond his current vote (35 percent);
• Crist’s appeal across segments of all Democratic, Republican and Independent vote;
• Rubio’s solid standing and base with Republicans – that will keep his vote from dropping – but his limited appeal among Democrats and independents; and
• Kendrick Meek’s inability to consolidate Democratic vote and establish any beachhead vote with independents during his primary where Jeff Greene’s attack TV drove up Meek negatives and Meek exchanges isolated him to a portion of the Democratic vote.

HERE'S THE MEMO

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