As Florida's September 5 primaries approach, the Rasmussen Reports election poll shows Republican Attorney General Charles Crist narrowly leading Democratic Congressman Jim Davis 45% to 41% when voters consider a general election match-up (see crosstabs).

In June, Crist's lead over Davis jumped to fourteen percentage points. But the race has tightened in the weeks since. A month ago, it was Crist 47% Davis 42%.

Crist is better known, has slightly higher favorables, and has double the "very favorable" rating of Davis: 24% for Crist versus 12% for Davis.

Crist and Davis are favored to win the primaries, although Davis is facing a much more serious challenge than he expected. Both frontrunners out-gun other possible nominees. When state CFO Tom Gallagher is matched with Davis, Davis leads 52% to 36%. Crist leads Democratic State Senator Rod Smith 47% to 38%.

If Gallagher and Smith emerge as the nominees, the Democrats would have the edge; Smith now leads Gallagher 49% to 37%. Back in June, before voters here got hit with wall-to-wall TV campaign ads, Gallagher had a slim advantage over Davis.

Gallagher has worked hard to position himself as a social conservative, an approach probably more palatable to the primary voters than to all voters. And he has been slammed repeatedly by the Crist campaign for investing in insurance stocks when he was insurance commissioner. More voters, 21%, view him "very unfavorably" than view any other candidate so negatively.

Both Crist and Gallagher claim to be the "true Jeb Bush conservative," but voters more often see Gallagher as a conservative. About as many consider Crist conservative as consider him moderate.

Among the Democrats, Davis is most often seen as moderate, Smith most often as liberal.

Florida voters tend to trust congressional Democrats more than President Bush on the economy. But neither party has the advantage on national security and Iraq: on this issue, 45% trust Bush's stewardship more, 46% trust the Democrats more.

Crosstabs are available for Premium Members only.