Tallahassee, Florida - July 14, 2011 -

Of three of the biggest political names in Florida, only one -- former Gov. Charlie Crist -- has a favorable rating topping 40 percent, according to a new Sunshine State News poll.

The former governor, who bolted the Republican Party and ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate as an independent in 2010, enjoys a 42 percent favorable rating -- besting both U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson.

Just eight months after losing to Rubio, Crist now holds a 42-33 favorable/unfavorable rating compared with Rubio's tighter 38-34 ranking.

Nelson, who is up for re-election in 2012, has a 32-27 favorable/unfavorable score. Surprisingly, 41 percent of respondents expressed no opinion or were "not aware" of him, an astonishingly high figure for a two-term senator and former congressman who has held elective office for four decades.

"Bill Nelson’s numbers are certainly underwhelming for a guy who has been on the Florida political stage for so many years, but you can’t say he can’t win next year either," said Jim Lee, president of Voter Survey Service, which conducted the July 5-7 poll.

"With a 32-27 ratio in hard name ID, he clearly has room to grow since 41 percent still have no opinion of him. And while his 48-15 positive/negative image with Democrats is decent and still shows room for more growth, his negative image with Republicans (18-38) will be key to watch because, while it’s not good, it could still be a lot worse," Lee said.

Lee said Nelson's mixed 29-30 ratio with independents will also be important to monitor because President Barack Obama’s popularity "will to some extent impact Nelson’s re-election."

"Republicans will try to make the case that Nelson has been a reliable vote for the president’s agenda (and independents currently disapprove of Obama by a 51-34 margin). Both Obama and Nelson could sink or swim together," Lee said.

The Sunshine State News Poll, which surveyed 1,000 registered likely voters, indicated that Crist's political prospects have revived since November while Rubio's have dipped since taking office.

"The best way to analyze the numbers for Rubio and Crist is to look at them in context of each other," Lee said. "While it’s somewhat surprising that Crist has a better total fav/unfav than Rubio, the key is that Rubio is still the darling of Republicans (60-16) while Crist's standing with the GOP is inverted 42-31 (negative/ positive)."

Crist gets his strongest support from Democrats (55-24) and each man breaks even with independents, though Crist gets slightly more of them.

Read more here here.