Gov. Rick Scott’s popularity among voters grew a little over the past month, a new poll by Quinnipiac University found.

The poll released Wednesday found half of voters disapproved to his performance as governor, compared to 37 percent who approved. That’s about a two percent increase from a month ago, and an uptick from May when the first-term governor had his worst showing with 29 percent approval.

Voters still believe by a 48-41 percent margin that Scott’s budget was unfair to them, another improvement from August, when voters thought by a 51-43 percent margin his spending plan was unfair.

Voters were split by 37-37 percent when asked if they like Scott as a person, compared to a 45-34 dislike in the August 5 poll.

Scott’s improvement comes after the governor launched a PR campaign to better explain his policies to voters, pollster Peter Brown said.

“Gov. Rick Scott has been trying to put on a charm offensive – both in changing how he deals with the news media and spending more time meeting ordinary Floridians from around the state. It appears to be working, at least a little,” Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling institute, said in a press release. “During his first six months in office Gov. Scott alienated the news media and did not make the effort to explain his program to the general public, as he has been doing recently.”

The Q poll also found a large majority of voters — 71 percent — also approve of a new law requiring welfare recipients to pass drug tests to receive benefits. That law is currently being challenged in court.

Gov. Rick Scott’s popularity is on the rise but the first-term governor has a long way to go to convince voters he’s doing what they want, a new poll released this morning found.

The Quinnipiac University poll found Scott’s approval rating climbed to 35 percent, up 6 percentage points, since May.

But the survey of registered voters found more than 50 percent of Floridians still don’t like Scott’s policies or his handling of the state budget, and more than three-fourths don’t know that the budget did not raise taxes.

And the survey found that even voters who approve of Scott’s accomplishments in theory don’t know what he’s accomplished, and many don’t like him personally.

The poll showed voters approved by a 58-29 percent margin a budget approach that cuts only spending rather than a combination of spending and tax hikes. But more than three-quarters of registered voters who responded to the poll did not know that Scott’s budget did not raise taxes. And more than half – 51 percent – said the state budget is unfair to them, compared to 33 percent who found it fair. The poll also found that voters dislike Scott’s policies by a margin of 54-34 percent; forty-two percent of those polled said the budget cuts went too far, 20 percent said they did not go far enough and 25 percent agreed with the cuts.

“It would seem that Gov. Rick Scott and his aides have failed to get their message out,” Quinnipiac University pollster Peter Brown said.

Read the full story here.

A shuffle at the highest reaches of state government began Friday, with Gov. Rick Scott naming a veteran legislative insider as his chief-of-staff and Senate President Mike Haridopolos also choosing a well-known Capitol name to manage his office.

As expected, Scott chose Steve MacNamara to succeed retired Army Col. Mike Prendergast as his chief-of-staff, plucking MacNamara from Haridopolos’ office, where he served in a similar capacity. Prendergast, who had been working for the first time in state government, earlier this week was named executive director of Florida’s Veterans’ Affairs Department.

MacNamara, though, brings to the governor’s office a wealth of Capitol experience. With polls showing the governor’s popularity at a stunningly low levels and the state’s economy still sluggish, MacNamara will likely be tasked with initiating policies that help Scott elevate his political game — and support from Floridians.

“My goal is to make Florida the number one state in the country for job creation and I believe Steve MacNamara is the best choice to direct my team in that endeavor,” Scott said.  “His experience and political skill will be an asset to all Floridians as we continue to position Florida as an economic leader.”

MacNamara is a former chief-of-staff to then-House Speaker John Thrasher, and served as an agency head under former Republican Gov. Bob Martinez. He also earlier served as a Senate staffer on redistricting — the once-a-deacade process lawmakers began again this month — and is a tenured professor at Florida State University.

Succeeding MacNamara in Haridopolos’ office is Craig Meyer, another longtime Capitol staffer who, most recently, was director of the Senate’s budget committee as it worked to offset a nearly $3.8 billion budget shortfall.

Scott’s office lost two key players this week, with adviser Mary Anne Carter also announcing she was leaving the administration by the end of June.  It’s uncertain whether Carter’s position will be filled, but other changes could be coming within the executive office and Senate president’s shop.

 

President Obama‘s approval rating is back above water in a Quinnipiac University poll released this morning. Floridians approve of Obama by a 51-to-43 percent margin, up from a 44-to-52 percent score last month.

It’s Quinnipiac’s first Florida survey since Obama ordered the May 1 raid in Pakistan that killed Islamist terror mastermind Osama bin Laden.

“Whether these numbers represent a ‘bin Laden bounce,’ President Barack Obama’s popularity is up in Florida, which will be a crucial state for him in the 2012 campaign,” said Quinnipiac’s Peter Brown. “The good news for the president is that by 50 – 44 percent Florida voters say Obama deserves a second term in the Oval Office, compared to April when they said 51 – 42 percent that he did not.”

Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, meanwhile, holds leads of at least 20 percent in hypothetical match-ups against each of the three Republicans vying to challenge him in 2012: Mike Haridopolos, George LeMieux or Adam Hasner.

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Florida’s recent political past and present will collide this afternoon, when Gov. Rick Scott joins Charlie Crist at the Capitol for the unveiling of the former governor’s portrait.

The style of Crist’s portrait is expected to remain a secret until its unveiling, during an event scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.  But details which could have been included in the likeness of Florida’s 44th governor were mockingly cited during last month’s annual capitol Press Skits.

Crist could be depicted with his finger in the air, and a copy of a Quinnipiac University poll by his side, a line from a faux news broadcast suggested.  That would be a homage to the governor’s ability to respond to when, as he once famously put it, “things change.”

But while many saw Crist driven by popularity over principle, Scott is miles from his predecessor on the approval meter. Quinnipiac — in its most recent survey — found Floridians’ dislike for Scott has doubled since February. And while Crist claimed 70 percent approval ratings at this early stage in his term, Scott’s is half that — 35 percent.

So what?

Well, with the Legislature in its final three weeks, Scott’s political mandate could well be tested by lawmakers who so far have shown only middling interest in giving the new administration what it wants.

A new CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corp. poll shows Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, a Democrat, and GOP opponent Rick Scott tied in the race for governor.

The survey shows Scott with the backing of 47 percent of likely voters and Sink with 45. The poll had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.

The poll also showed Sink with a one percent edge among all voters, a drop of seven points from early this month.

Scott held a 13-point advantage with independents likely to vote, with 50 percent said they were likely to cast a ballot for the former health care executive compared to 37 percent who said they’d vote for Sink.

In the three-way U.S. Senate race, the poll found Republican Marco Rubio in the lead with the support of 42 percent of likely voters, independent candidate Gov. Charlie Crist with 31 percent and U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, a Democrat, with 23 percent.

A new Rasmussen poll shows GOP gubernatorial nominee Rick Scott with a six point lead over Democrat opponent Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink.

The telephone poll found that 50 percent of likely voters said they will cast their ballot for Scott with Sink getting 44 percent.

Rasmussen Reports now shifted the race from a toss-up to leaning Republican in its latest Election 2010 Gubernatorial Scorecard.

Earlier this month, Sink had a slight edge over Scott, with a 48 to 47 percent lead.

Both polls included “leaners,” likely voters who initially respond that they have no preference for either candidate but when asked again say they prefer a particular candidate.

A Mason Dixon poll released yesterday showed Sink with a 7 point lead over Scott. That poll of likely voters gave Sink 47 percent of the vote compared to 40 percent for Scott, with 11 percent undecided.

If Bill McCollum can start each day of his bus tour like this, it’s going to be a good road trip for the Republican gubernatorial candidate.

For the second time in as many days, a poll is showing McCollum over GOP primary rival Rick Scott.

The survey today is from the Tarrance Group, paid for by the Florida Medical Association. They phoned 900 likely Republicans from Aug. 10-12 and claim a margin of error of 3.3 percent. 

Scott’s campaign dismissed the poll, noting that the FMA has endorsed McCollum.

“When McCollum’s surrogate groups release polls showing your campaign in a statistical tie, you know you are in trouble,” Scott spokesman Joe Kildea said.

McCollum, meanwhile, is starting the second of his four-day bus tour. He has three events in Jacksonville (after five in the same area Thursday) before stops in Daytona Beach and Cocoa.

A McLaughlin & Associates poll sponsored by the Associated Industries of Florida:

A telephone survey of likely general election voters only slightly favors independent U.S. Senate candidate Gov. Crist over Republican candidate Rubio by 2 percentage points (38 percent versus 36 percent) when U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek is the Democratic challenger (16 percent of respondents indicated they would vote for Meek). If Jeff Greene was the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, those numbers shift slightly with Gov. Crist and Rubio both earning 37 percent of the vote, and Greene earning 16 percent. In both scenarios, 10 percent of voters were undecided.

The poll was conducted between July 31 and August 1, 2010, the poll surveyed by telephone 600 randomly-selected, likely general election voters throughout Florida. It has a margin of error of +/- 4 percent and a 95 percent confidence interval. The live telephone interviews were conducted by professional interviewers.

From Public Policy Polling today:

Rick Scott is looking like the frontrunner to be the Republican nominee for Governor of Florida, although both he and Bill McCollum have been badly bruised by their primary fight. Scott leads McCollum 43-29.

Indecision reigns in the Democratic Senate primary. Kendrick Meek leads Jeff Greene by a 28-25 margin that’s pretty inconsequential given the survey’s margin of error. The bigger story is that 37% of voters remain undecided, and that both candidates continue to be relatively unknown even to the party base.

From Reuters:

Florida Governor Charlie Crist holds a narrow edge over Republican Marco Rubio in a three-way Senate race dominated by economic worries, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday. … Crist holds a similar 34 to 29 percent edge over Rubio in a three-way race against Democrat Jeff Greene, who is locked in a tough party primary fight with Meek. The Florida primary will be held August 24.

In the race to succeed Crist as governor, Republican Rick Scott leads Democrat Alex Sink by 34 percent to 31 percent. But Sink leads slightly, 31 percent to 30 percent, when matched against Republican Bill McCollum. McCollum and Scott are waging a bitter Republican primary race.

The Ipsos poll of 600 registered voters was taken July 9-11 for Reuters and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish and the data were weighted to Florida’s registered voter population according to U.S. Census figures.

From Rasmussen Reports:

Regardless of which Democrat is in the race, Rubio carries roughly 60% of the GOP vote, while Crist earns 29% support from voters in his former party. It will be interesting to see if Crist can hang on to this level of support from Republicans as the campaign wears on.

Democrats are narrowly divided between Crist and the candidate from their own party. Voters not affiliated with either party give a slight edge to Crist. But nearly one-out-of-five Democrats and unaffiliateds remain undecided.

Rubio runs stronger among voters over 40, while Crist earns his best numbers among voters ages 18 to 39. Most conservatives like Rubio. Moderates and liberals give the edge to the governor.

The statewide telephone survey of 500 Likely Voters in Florida was conducted on July 6, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/-4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.

Now that the debate is over, weigh in with your thoughts.

Read a recap here. And watch the video of the entire 90-minute event, hosted by The Palm Beach Post, to be published on by clicking here.

Rassmussen Reports today labels Rick Scott’s gubernatorial campaign as an “out-of-nowhere bid.”

The company’s poll today shows the GOP multi-millionaire health care executive is catching up to Republican Bill McCollum and Democrat Alex Sink, the front-runners in their respective parties, after pending about $1 million per week on television is competitive in matchups against both the GOP and Democratic front-runners.

From the poll:

Scott 41%, Sink 40%

McCollum 43%, Sink 35%

The telephone survey of 500 likely voters was conducted Sunday and has a 4.5 percent margin error.

From Rassmussen Reports this morning:

Two weeks ago, just after Crist announced that he was running as an independent, he held a 38% to 34% advantage over Rubio.

The latest numbers parallel the findings in April two weeks before Crist announced he was quitting the Republican Primary race.

Crist, whose numbers had been in freefall in his primary match-up with Rubio, has been actively courting Democrats. But Meek now edges Crist among Democratic voters after trailing him two weeks ago.

Two Palm Beach County lawmakers hoping to springboard into statewide office are in very different positions, according to a new Mason Dixon poll released this morning.

Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, is up 33 percent to 26 percent over former state Rep. Loranne Ausley, D-Tallahassee, in the likely match up of state chief financial officer candidates.

Technically, Atwater still has a primary opponent in Rep. Pat Patterson of DeLand. But Atwater holds a 30-to-1 fundraising advantage and Patterson has said he will not use Atwater’s support for Senate Bill 6 in the race. Patterson voted against it, but said the education issue wouldn’t be appropriate in a CFO race.

Meanwhile, the poll shows state Sen. Dave Aronberg of Greenacres locked in a dogfight with fellow Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach in the Democratic primary for attorney general . The poll, which has a 4 percent margin of error showed Gelber with 15 percent, Aronberg with 12 percent and undecided with 73 percent.

Other results from the poll:

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Is Republican Rick Scott a force to be reckoned with in Florida’s gubernatorial race? From the Crowley Political Report:

One GOP strategist told CPR tonight that the McCollum folks must be “filling their pants” over this Mason Dixon poll.

Attorney General Bill McCollum 38, formally unknown Naples businessman Rick Scott, 24. State Sen. Paula Dockery is at 7 and undecided is 31.

The St. Petersburg Times dove into the Scott phenomenon in this story today.

It might be a little early to suggest Republican Marco Rubio or Democrat Kendrick Meek have a problem with older voters (you know, the type who turn out on Election Day…), but a friend of the blog points out this cross tab in the Mason-Dixon poll released Thursday:

But the new Mason-Dixon poll concludes Gov. Charlie Crist’s lead in the U.S. Senate race may be short lived. Pollsters believe hefty support Crist is getting from Democrats won’t hold up.

More here.

From Rasmussen Reports:

The Florida Senate race appears to be a whole new ballgame with Republican Governor Charlie Crist’s decision to run as an independent.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Florida Voters finds Crist earning 38% support to Republican Marco Rubio’s 34% and Democrat Kendrick Meek’s 17%. Eleven percent (11%) are undecided.

Two weeks ago, before Crist announced his decision to run as an independent candidate, Rubio held a seven point advantage in the race.

Since then, Crist has gained eight (8) percentage points in the poll while Rubio and Meek have each dropped three (3) points. It remains to be seen if this is a temporary bounce or a lasting change in the race.