If Florida's gubernatorial election were held today, voters would barely pick former governor and Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist over current Republican Gov. Rick Scott, according to a poll released Wednesday by Public Policy Polling.
The liberal-leaning polling firm found that 43 percent of Florida voters would back Crist, while 41 percent would back Scott. Those numbers are well within the poll's margin of error of 4 points, however, meaning the race is virtually tied.
Both candidates suffer from similarly low approval ratings -- only 34 percent of voters approve of Scott's job performance as governor, while 36 percent have a favorable opinion of Crist, according to PPP.
The Florida governor's race is viewed as one of this year's most competitive. Last February, Politico reported that Scott had planned a $100 million reelection campaign, the most expensive in state history. In 2010, he spent $73 million of his own money to move on from the Republican primary and win the general election.
Scott's presumed 2014 general election opponent is Crist, a former Republican governor of Florida who left the GOP after a failed 2010 Senate campaign. He officially became a Democrat in December 2012.
Scott leads Crist's Democratic primary opponent, former Florida state Sen. Nan Rich, 40 percentage points to 34 percentage points in the PPP poll.