Rick Scott holds a 43 to 32 percent lead over Bill McCollum for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, according to a Quinnipiac University poll of likely primary voters.

In the Democratic race for the U.S. Senate, Jeff Greene opened up a 33 to 23 percent lead over Kendrick Meek, with former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre at 4 percent.

And yet despite the sizable monetary advantages held by Scott and Greene, both contests remain volatile.

In the GOP gubernatorial race, 23 percent are undecided and 43 percent of those who do name a candidate say they might change their mind, the Quinnipiac pollsters found.

In the Democratic Senate race, 35 percent are undecided and 54 percent of those who name a candidate say they could switch.

Scott's lead narrowed slightly from the 44 to 31 percent advantage he held in a June 10 survey by Quinnipiac. Pollsters said the results "strongly correlate with voter preference for a candidate who is a government outsider rather than one with longtime government experience."

Scott, former president and CEO of Columbia/HCA hospitals, is making his first run for political office and has spent more than $20 million of his own money to wage a statewide TV advertising blitz.

Attorney General McCollum, who has held public office for three decades, including several terms in Congress, was once considered the odds-on favorite in the gubernatorial contest. Now, outspent by Scott and with dwindling reserves, McCollum has taken $1.2 million from the state campaign-finance fund for support, and relies on the Capitol's GOP leadership to help him round up more.

A similar dynamic is unfolding in the Democrats' Senate primary, where billionaire businessman Greene is widening his lead over Meek, a congressman from Miami. Quinnipiac had Meek leading 29 to 27 percent in its June 10 poll.

"If there was any doubt that enough money can make a political unknown into a front-runner, the Democratic Senate primary and the Republican primary for governor should lay it to rest," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, based in Hamden, Conn.

"Both Greene and Scott have come from nowhere to hold double-digit leads with just a little more than three weeks until the voting."

"Anything can happen in the interim, but since their opponents are unlikely to outspend them down the home stretch, they are both in enviable positions," Brown added.

"Both men also are being helped by the national anti-incumbent, anti-establishment wave evident in other primaries. Both men have battled their respective party hierarchies, quite successfully at this point."

Asked which "type of candidate would you prefer to see as governor: someone with years of government experience or a government outsider," likely GOP primary voters opted for the outsider, 54 to 28 percent.

Other questions also reflect Scott's edge: