New Poll: Rick Scott Remains Deeply Unpopular
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Rick Scott remains one of the most unpopular governors in the United States, according to a poll released this week.
Only 33 percent of registered voters polled approve of the job Scott is doing, while 55 percent disapprove, the Public Policy Polling found.
The findings come despite a year-long charm offensive by Scott.
The governor repeatedly met with residents, teachers, business folks and the media on “listening” tours of Florida. He made dozens of stops throughout the state to announce companies bringing new jobs and increasing hiring.
Nothing worked. Scott failed to move up substantially in polls.
“Rick Scott continues to be one of the most unpopular Governors in the country,” says Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “His numbers have remained basically static over the course of this year and he’ll need a big improvement over the next 13 months if he’s going to get reelected.”
Consequently, the head-to-head findings between former Gov. Charlie Crist, a Democrat, and Scott had obvious results. Crist is leading 50/38 percent.
Former Democratic state Sen. Nan Rich doesn’t fare as well. She was slightly edged out by Scott 37/36.
The poll also found Crist beating Rich in a primary easily, 59/16. Crist wins in all categories, including women.
PPP surveyed 579 Florida voters from September 27th-29th. The margin of error is +/-4.1%. The poll was conducted through automated telephone interviews.
PPP, a Democratic-leaning firm, was rated the most accurate polling firm of the 2012 cycle by Fordham University’s Center for Electoral Politics and Democracy.
The firm said the current poll poll “was not authorized or paid for by any campaign or political organization.”
One caveat on any poll at this point: No campaign advertising has started. The advertising is expected to dramatically tighten the race.
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Check out the poll in this link.
October 2nd, 2013 at 6:58 am
That’s pretty much the same early position Crist was in before he ultimately lost his senatorial bid to Rubio.
FROM BUDDY:
You are right on the money.
October 2nd, 2013 at 8:21 am
Any poll that shows that Rick scott is close to even with nan rich is a joke. Nan rich doesn’t have the name recognition to be that competitive. Many favorable polls will come out for Crist now as he enters the race, pattern has been used for years.
October 2nd, 2013 at 11:44 am
Instead of a Democrat leaning pollster, asking 579 registered voters, howabout we get a non partisan pollster asking thousands of likely voters.
These numbers are clearly skewed toward a Charlie Crist campaign. The only poll that matters in the end is the poll taken on election day.
Oh BTW, Go Nan Go! Keep fundraising and wasting, er, I mean spending wisely all those contributions from Democrats. You can make it, girl!
October 2nd, 2013 at 12:11 pm
Well, Charlie has name recognition but it is hard to believe people have already forgotten his change in politics. I would not believe any poll given by a Democrat leaning company.
October 2nd, 2013 at 5:26 pm
Nan Rich’s people can’t face reality. She has been out there for a year and has yet to get any real support. The election is too important to be left to chance. Only Charlie Crist can beat Rick “Dr. Evil” Scott.
October 2nd, 2013 at 5:28 pm
Charlie “the Windsock” Crist: Caveat Emptor.
October 2nd, 2013 at 7:04 pm
Hey if Charlie wins can I be sheriff again? I promise I won’t steal as much this time.
October 3rd, 2013 at 7:31 am
What matters is what Florida voters think. They will be the jury of this in due time.
Most recently, Floridians backed a black man for president. Twice. Once against a war hero and again against strongly supported right wing Christian.
They rejected the highly charismatic Charlie Christ when he ran for the Senate and elected Rick Scott which just goes to prove that in Florida anything can happen.
Nan Rich has no chance? Only someone unfamiliar with Florida politics and voter patterns would make so sloppy a statement.
October 3rd, 2013 at 11:11 am
@Sam the Sham:
A poll of 579 voters, all else being equal, should have a margin of error of about 4% (assuming the polling was random, always a BIG “if”).
1,000 people would get you about 3%, while doubling to 2,000 would only buy you 2.4% and doubling again to 4,000 would get you 2.2%.
It is FAR more important to investigate the randomness of the sample in a poll; unfortunately, that is quite impossible unless you have access to the guys of the poll, and even then it’s a bit of voodoo.
Kevin.
October 3rd, 2013 at 7:33 pm
Lori Parrish to endorse Joe Gibbons and endorse Kristin Jacobs opponent. After Jacobs loses that is the end of her political career.
Go Lori
October 4th, 2013 at 8:20 am
Bob Norman was caught using phony footage while reporting a story which amounts to a lie. When confronted and threatened with legal action his station was forced to admit what they did and retract Bob’s story. What a blow to their credibility.
http://www.local10.com/news/clarification/-/1717324/22258626/-/11e06u4z/-/index.html
October 4th, 2013 at 10:17 am
Dlc, what difference does it make if Kristin Jacobs wins or some other Democrat clone?
BTW, Lori Parrish is truly a fat pig feeding at the public trough. Please go away.
October 5th, 2013 at 6:27 am
@11 – The use of “file footage” or “stock footage” is a routine practice at TV stations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_footage
News programs use film footage from their libraries when more recent images are not available. Such usage is often labeled on-screen with an indication that the footage being shown is file footage.
The story Bob Norman wrote clearly pointed out that there was no admission of wrongdoing even though the company had to pay back large sums of money. This is the typical nonsense that happens when corporations misbehave – no matter how egregious the foreclosure fraud or whatever else was happening, even if it basically crashes the world economy, CEOs hardly ever go to prison and their companies hardly ever have to even admit wrongdoing. The companies just pay some kind of fine, treat it as a cost of doing business, and then laugh about it. See the excellent reporting of Matt Taibbi at Rolling Stone for details:
http://www.rollingstone.com/taibbi
In this particular case, a county commissioner owns the company, and the standard practice there is to pay big legal expenses to get the politician off scot-free (see Stacy Ritter’s ethics charges, etc.). The lawyers complained that file footage was used (grasping at straws here), and the station wanted to avoid an expensive legal conflict (even when you win, you still have to pay the lawyers, so you still lose lots of money even when you won the case and did nothing wrong). So they posted a “Clarification” saying that file footage was used when broadcasting Bob Normans completely accurate story.
October 5th, 2013 at 2:24 pm
Norman’s use of FBI footage was intentionally false. The FBI had nothing to do with that story. He knew it but used phony FBI footage anyway. It was a lie and he knew it.
It didn’t matter that his story was untrue. He didn’t care what impact his lie might have on others. Trying so hard to “expose” an untrue story, he ended up exposing himself.
Bob Norman lies on he air.
Whether he keeps his or not doesn’t matter any longer. He can’t ever regain his credibility. A stunt like this will never be forgotten. He’s given every potential person he would want to interview in the future the perfect reason to walk away from him.
His credibility is shot. Bob Norman is a verified liar.
October 5th, 2013 at 3:57 pm
I rarely comment but Buddy should write about the Bob Norman retraction. People are talking about it because Norman has had many good stories. Still it is dishonorable to have untrue ones. That makes him worse than the people he usually covers. He is supposed to be the honest one. He should apologize in person since he lied and it makes me angry that he has not done that. Does nobody tell the truth anymore?
October 8th, 2013 at 7:09 am
Here’s more about “Retraction Bob” Norman. The liar.
http://southernexposed.blogspot.com/
October 14th, 2013 at 11:38 am
Charlie Crist making the rounds today at Consumer Credit Counseling in Sunrise. It’s owned by Howard Davorkian. Wasn’t Bob Norman getting into a little spat with Davorkian’s wife when he trespassed on that nice ranch in Parkland to do a story about the lights in the riding arena being too bright for the neighbors and BSO had to come out and tell him to leave? Isn’t it a small world?