Exclusive Allen West Poll: Voters Love Him or Hate Him
BY BUDDY NEVINS and JIM KANE
Broward voters either like or hate U. S. Rep. Allen West.
A poll in the Broward portion of West’s District 22 found likely voters evenly split in their views of the controversial Tea Party favorite.
“Half the people who rated him liked him while the other half didn’t. He’s an extremely polarizing figure,” said Jim Kane, Browardbeat.com’s pollster who did the survey from November 7 through November 10
West, R-Plantation, had an unfavorable ratings of 44.1 percent, the survey found.
“Most of these voters will probably never vote for him,” Kane said. “Any time an incumbent has negatives above thirty percent before a campaign has even begun, suggests he or she is vulnerable.”
At the same time, 42.8 percent of the voters surveyed had favorable views of West.
Only 13.1 percent had no views of West, who is a national media favorite as a veteran and a black conservative Republican.
More amazing were those with extremely strong feelings about West. While 23.8 percent described themselves as having “extremely favorable” views of West, a huge 28.6 percent said they were “extremely unfavorable” towards him.
In 2010, Allen West defeated Ron Klein in Broward County’s portion of District 22 with 54 percent of the vote. In Palm Beach County, West beat Klein by a 55 percent margin.
The survey findings indicate that if the District boundaries remain essentially the same after redistricting, West will likely face a close election.
Another local member of Congress with a lot of media exposure is U. S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston. She is the Democratic National Committee Chairwoman.
Wasserman Schultz retains a huge majority of Broward voters with favorable views of her in her District 20. She also had lower unfavorable ratings.
The chart comparing the two is below:
Favorable/Unfavorable Ratings Comparison
|
Congressional Districts 20 & 22 |
||||
| District 20 |
District 22 |
|||
| Wasserman-Schultz Favorable Rating |
West Favorable Rating |
Wasserman-Schultz Favorable Rating |
West Favorable Rating |
|
| % |
% |
% |
% |
|
| Very Favorable |
39.1% |
12.8% |
29.8% |
23.8% |
| Mostly Favorable |
19.5% |
17.3% |
16.7% |
19.0% |
| Mostly Unfavorable |
12.8% |
20.3% |
11.9% |
15.5% |
| Very Unfavorable |
21.8% |
21.8% |
22.6% |
28.6% |
| Never Heard Of |
2.3% |
17.3% |
14.3% |
3.6% |
| Recognize/Can’t Rate |
4.5% |
10.5% |
4.8% |
9.5% |
| Total |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
100.0% |
(About the survey: USAPoll conducted this survey of 402 likely Broward County voters from November 7 through November 10. The sampling error for this sample size is +/-4.9%. For crosstab comparisons between multiple variables, a chi-square significance level of .05 or less was required before analysis.)
November 17th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
While Schultz and West are polar opposites, and most would love one and hate the other, at least they have an opinion, are not afraid to stand by it and fight for what they believe is correct.
November 17th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
Allen West is a Dick
November 17th, 2011 at 4:27 pm
What worries Democrats is that no matter how big a fool West is, he will have millions for his campaign. That puts a different spin on the poll.
November 18th, 2011 at 3:41 am
When the party gravitates to extremes, it chases away many voters. That is the lesson of West.
November 18th, 2011 at 11:35 am
i’d get waterboarded again for allen west.
November 19th, 2011 at 3:40 pm
It is a shame that most voters base their opinions on third party information, which of course is skewed toward the opinion of that third party. If Americans were doing their civic duty in holding representatives accountable according to the constitution, then I believe the party politics would not have as much influence. I support Allen West because he puts the constitution above party the majority of the time. We the people have become lazy and we vote based on biased information instead of communicating directly with those who wish to represent us. I do not want America to be a European light type government. Americans live far better than most in other countries, why would anyone want to change that?
November 20th, 2011 at 12:24 pm
Allen West is a true patriot. It is sad that half of the voters in Southeast Florida don’t realize that they should be honored to have such a dedicated man serving them.
September 12th, 2012 at 1:50 am
I love Allen West. Those that don’t just hate him because he’s black. But really hate him because he want be their little black boy but instead is his own man. God bless him.