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The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the Sunshine State shows Crist leading former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio by 22 points among likely Republican Primary voters – 53% to 31%. Five percent (5%) prefer some other candidate, and 11% are undecided.

Still, the fact that Crist is barely above 50% in a primary against a much lesser known opponent suggests at least a potential vulnerability.

This is the first Rasmussen Reports poll of the Republican Primary campaign in Florida.

In late June, Crist held solid leads over the two most prominent Democrats who have announced for the seat now held by retiring Republican Senator Mel Martinez.

Since then, however, Martinez has announced that he will be leaving the Senate this year as soon as Crist names a replacement to succeed him. This puts the governor in the position of raising up a potential rival with a year of Senate experience.

Rasmussen Reports will release new numbers on some of the known potential match-ups in the 2010 Senate race in Florida at 5 pm EDT today.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it’s in the news, it’s in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

In the primary contest, married voters give Crist a 16-point edge over Rubio, while unmarrieds prefer the governor by a three-to-one margin.

Thirty-one percent (31%) of likely GOP Primary voters have a very favorable opinion of Crist while six percent (6%) have a very unfavorable view.

The comparable numbers for Rubio are 18% very favorable and five percent (5%) very unfavorable.

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.

Crist raised $4.3 million in the second quarter, more than 10 times as much as Rubio.