From appointing his former campaign manager to keep his seat in the U.S. Senate warm to his televised man-hug with President Obama, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s latest smooth moves apparently are not sitting well with the state’s Republican base or its Independents as the run-up to the primary slowly approaches.

According to a new Quinnipiac poll released today, Fllorida Gov. Charlie Crist’s lead over former state house speaker Marco Rubio in the 2010 Republican U.S. Senate primary has been cut from 55 to 26 percent to 50 to 35 percent, but Crist still tops the leading Democrat, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, 51 to 31 percent among all voters, while Rubio trails Meek 36 to 33 percent.

“Gov. Charlie Crist’s lead, which had been 29 points August 19, has come back down to earth. His margin is still formidable, but obviously Marco Rubio’s focus on convincing Republican conservatives that he, not Crist, is their kind of guy is bearing fruit,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

“Among Republicans, 44 percent view Rubio favorably, 3 percent unfavorably, up from 24 to 6 percent August 19. But fully half don’t know enough about him to have an opinion. Filling in that blank slate for that half of GOP voters — positively by Rubio and negatively by Crist — will decide the nomination.

“Floridians now give Crist the worst overall job approval of his governorship, 59 to 31 percent, but governors of many other states would sell their first born — or at least their running mate — for numbers like that,” said Brown. “But because only Republicans can vote in the GOP primary, Rubio’s strong favorable/unfavorable ratio among Republicans is something that should worry the governor.”

Crist’s 51 to 31 percent lead over Meek is largely due to his 58 to 22 percent margin among independent voters. In a Rubio-Meek face-off, independents tip to the Republican by a small 31 to 27 percent margin.