Poll: Floridians Sick Of Scott
MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – Governor Rick Scott claimed to be the jobs governor and a man of the people when he took office in January. After failing to create jobs, cutting jobs, and passing his first budget, it's safe to say the people are sick of Rick Scott.
In a new Quinnipiac Poll, Scott received the lowest approval rating of any governor surveyed by the university.
Scott had a 29-57 approval rating in the latest Quinnipiac poll. That's down from a 35-48 percent disapproval rating on April 6.
Looking at the breakdown across party lines, Scott had a 51-37 approval rating from Republicans. He had a 72-13 disapproval rating from Democrats and a 57-28 disapproval from independent voters. Scott also was below 50 percent from white, born-again evangelicals which make up his base.
"He always had kind of a cloud, you might say, over him," said local pollster Fernand Amandi.
Amandi says the new poll could be damaging.
"Where he's vulnerable is if he doesn't learn some of the lessons of the past, if he doesn't recognize that sometimes voters do send a message," said Amandi.
"Rick Scott's not doing things to be popular," said Barry University political science professor Sean Foreman.
Foreman says Scott is making tough choices.
"The only saving grace for Rick Scott is that the Florida legislature is just as unpopular, in fact probably more unpopular," said Foreman.
By region, Scott's highest marks came from the more conservative southwestern part of the state. In South Florida, he had a 19 percent approval rating.
The trend for Scott is not good either. His negative numbers have skyrocketed from 22 percent on February 2 to 57 percent on May 25. He's losing ground amongst those who didn't have an opinion of him in February and amongst those who do approve of his performance.
And when it comes to the state budget, nearly 60 percent of Floridians disapprove of how Scott is handling the money. He received poor marks from everyone except Republicans. The only area of the state that gave Scott a decent approval number for the budget was the panhandle at 39 percent approval.
Floridians also consider the new budget passed by the GOP-led legislature and Rick Scott to be unfair to "people like you." Fifty-four percent considered the budget unfair and no majority of a party or even evangelicals though the budget was fair.
In addition, 38 percent of voters said the new spending cuts approved by the Republican legislature will hurt Florida's economy, while 31 percent say it will make no difference.
And when it comes to Scott's promise of creating jobs, Florida's voters simply aren't buying it. Sixty-one percent said the new state budget will not help create jobs in Florida. That includes a majority of Democrats, independents, and a plurality of Republicans and evangelicals.
Scott's signature proposal of getting the property insurance industry further deregulated and pulling back on Citizens' coverage is also not winning any support from voters. By a 63-3 margin, voters said getting insurance in Florida will be more difficult under Scott.
And shooting a hole in the GOP talking point of getting government out of the way of business, Floridians say the government should be involved in the property insurance industry. Nearly 60 percent said the state should do more to regulate property insurance in Florida.
