The contest for the 2010 Republican Senate nomination in Florida is a little closer this month, but Governor Charlie Crist still holds a 14-point lead over former state House Speaker Marco Rubio.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely GOP Primary voters in the state finds Crist outdistancing Rubio 49% to 35%. Four percent (4%) like some other candidate, and 12% are undecided.

In mid-August, Crist was beating Rubio by 22 points among GOP Primary voters – 53% to 31%. That was Rasmussen Reports’ first poll of next year's Republican Primary race.

The fact that Crist has fallen below 50% in a primary against a lesser known opponent suggests potential vulnerability.

Both men are vying to be the Republican nominee in next year’s race to fill the seat vacated by retiring GOP Senator Mel Martinez. In August, Crist as governor named his chief of staff, George LeMiuex, to serve the remainder of Martinez’s term, but LeMieux is not running for a full term next year.

Both Crist and Rubio have been running ahead of their most likely Democratic challenger in general election polling. Rasmussen Reports will release its latest match-up numbers for next year’s Senate race at 5 pm EDT today.

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Crist still holds a double-digit lead over Rubio among both male and female primary voters. Rubio leads among voters ages 50 to 64 but trails in all other age groups.

Twenty-three percent (23%) of GOP Primary voters have a very favorable opinion of Crist, while 13% view him very unfavorably.

Rubio is viewed very favorably by 21% and very unfavorably by just three percent (3%). But 23% of primary voters don’t know enough about the Cuban-American politician from Miami to express even a soft opinion of him.

At this very early stage of the campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the very favorable and very unfavorable figures more significant than the overall favorability totals. The GOP Primary is scheduled for August 24 of next year.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of GOP Primary voters at least somewhat approve of the job Crist is doing as governor, while 42% disapprove. Fourteen percent (14%) strongly approve, and 16% strongly disapprove. Those numbers are not terribly strong for an incumbent Governor in his own party.

Nationally, 29% of Republican voters say former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is their pick to represent the GOP in the 2012 presidential campaign, while 24% prefer former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and 18% like former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

These numbers reflect an improvement for Huckabee since July when the three candidates were virtually even. Huckabee’s gain appears to be Palin’s loss as Romney’s support has barely changed.

If the choice for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 comes down to a choice between Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, Huckabee has a slight edge among likely GOP voters.

In the eyes of the political Left, Palin is perhaps America’s most visible national Republican, but she loses handily in face-to-face march-ups with Huckabee and Romney.

Thirty-nine percent (39%) of Republican voters have a favorable opinion of the party’s national chairman, Michael Steele, while 27% regard him very unfavorably. However, 35% don’t know what they think of Steele.

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