The 2013 legislative session may only be a few weeks old, but some experts are already looking forward to the 2014 Governor race. A new poll released this week suggest the Governor who ran on “jobs, jobs, jobs” may lose his come the 2014 election.
Fewer than 600 days may seem like an eternity to think about election night, but like they say, there’s no time like the present. A new Quinnipiac University poll shows if the 2014 Gubernatorial race were today, Governor Rick Scott would lose matchups against two potential Democratic challengers. Scott’s approval rating is 33%, and that says Polling Assistant Director Peter Brown, is a big hurdle.
“Tough to be elected when almost 2/3’s of the electorate don’t approve of what you’re doing,” Brown said.
Former Governor, and former Republican, Charlie Crist has the lead over Scott by 16 points. Crist also has the upper hand with the state’s crucial independent voters, winning them by a margin of 20 points. According to the poll the former Republican now Democrat’s move from one side of the aisle to another, is an asset. But, said and Quinnipiac’s Peter Brown, that won’t stop Scott from trying to bring back the olden days.
“One would assume again that Gov. Scott would use his financial resources to buy an awful lot of television pointing out Scott’s transformation, and showing Democrats pictures of Crist with prominent Republicans,” Brown said.
Ex-Chief Financial Officer, and 2010 governor runner-up, Alex Sink, would win this time around by more than 10 points. That being said 58 percent of Floridians say they don’t know enough about Sink to form an opinion.
“Voters don’t necessarily pay a lot of attention outside of election season, and she either made an impression that has not stayed with voters or didn’t make an impression – those who know her like her, but not many people know her,” said Peter Brown, Assistant Director of Polling for Quinnipiac University.
According to another survey the Public Policy Poll, Governor Scott would face problems against Former Tampa Mayor Pam Lorio, where he would lose by 7 points.
But not all the news is bad for Scott. He would not have to worry about a Republican Primary race, beating potential Republican runner, and current Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, by more than 20 points. And he has received support for some of his recent announcements like teacher pay and Medicaid expansion: 74% say they support $2,500 teacher pays raises, while 50% back his decision to expand Medicaid coverage to new recipients.
The Quinnipiac survey polled 1000 registered Floridian voters from March 13-18 with a margin of error of 3.1%. The poll was conducted just days after Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll resigned.
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