Voters Ask: Who Is Mike Satz?
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Who is Mike Satz?
That’s the question pollsters got from seven out of 10 likely voters in the latest USAPoll done exclusively for Browardbeat.com
Despite 35 years as Broward State Attorney, Satz has little name recognition.
Of the likely voters surveyed, an amazing 69.3 percent said they had never heard of Satz. Another 14.8 percent recognized his name but had no opinion of the long-time top Broward prosecutor.
“This is a double edged sword for Mike Satz,” said Jim Kane, Browardbeat.com’s pollster and owner of USAPoll. “He has a blank slate to create an image or it could allow a challenger to define him.”
Satz should take comfort in the fact that if the name ID of any of the lawyers considering a race against him were polled, “they would be much lower than his,” Kane said.
Kane blamed Satz’s anonymity on his “low key” approach to the job.
In contrast to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle who is on TV constantly, Satz seldom appears at a news conference and rarely speaks to reporters. He prefers to issue news releases and have his spokesman speak for him.
“I don’t like to make headlines over somebody else’s misery,” Satz said. “It’s not my style.”
Satz correctly noted that previous polls over his years in office have found low name ID a year before the election. “Campaigning will refresh peoples’ memories,” he said.
The good news for Satz is that he has very low unfavorable ratings. Only 3.8 percent of voters have an unfavorable view of the prosecutor, while 12.3 percent are favorable towards him.
With such low unfavorables, it would take a great deal of money in a countywide race to create adverse feelings about the prosecutor.
Satz will have enough money to reach the voters with his message. The question is whether a challenger can pick up enough cash in a low visibility race that very few outside of the courthouse care about.
Satz favorability rating:
- Very Favorable 3.3 percent
- Mostly Favorable 9.0
- Mostly Unfavorable 2.3
- Very Unfavorable 1.5
- Never Heard Of 69.3
- Recognize/ can’t rate 14.8
(USAPolls 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%.)
November 28th, 2011 at 10:13 am
I know who Mike Satz is.
He is the do nothing state attorney that will be voted out in 2012.
November 28th, 2011 at 8:55 pm
JAAblog can rant all day long. Still, Satz wins hands down. Would the county be better served with a prosecutor like Jim Lewis who defended every scum bag with a check or Mike Satz.
November 29th, 2011 at 2:22 pm
Mike has done a great job. There has been very little corruption in the area in the past 35 years. Excellent job mike!
November 29th, 2011 at 2:35 pm
I was robbed at gunpoint in Victoria Park. After the police caught him, Mike Satz’s prosecutor worked with me diligently to put the scumbag in jail who did it. If Satz is responsible for the way this prosecutor worked with me in a professional and caring manner, then he deserves to be reelected.
November 29th, 2011 at 7:40 pm
Satz is responsible for a lot of things but public safety is not one of them.
December 7th, 2011 at 4:55 pm
I know the answer to the question, “Who Is Mike Satz” He is the deadwood who has done nothing in office for at least 20 years, letting corruption thrive.