By Sascha Cordner
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-997015.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – A new poll shows Florida voters, regardless of party affiliation, agree the billions of dollars in fines BP will pay as a result of the oil spill should go towards Gulf restoration efforts instead of reducing the federal deficit. As Sascha Cordner reports, some environmental firms and two polling firms affiliated with U.S. Senators Bill Nelson, a Democrat, and Marco Rubio, a Republican, unveiled the results Monday.
Democratic polling firm Hamilton Campaigns and Republican polling firm Ayres McHenry and Associates conducted the poll. It shows about 80% of Florida voters polled statewide favored a bill to use most of the BP oil spill fines for Gulf Coast restoration rather than reducing the federal deficit. Hamilton Campaigns President David Beattie says that's despite divides along party lines:
"If people are Democrat, or Republican, or a Tea Party supporter, or a likely presidential primary voter for Republicans, the margin is almost the same. So, there's not a division that we normally see on so many issues, and you'll see throughout the poll, on images of Rick Scott or images of President Barack Obama, where those typical partisan divisions occur, they just don't occur in this data."
The bill called the "Restore the Gulf Coast Act" was filed by U.S. Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio. The House version is co-sponsored by nine Florida House members. If the measure does not pass, the revenue from the BP spill fines will be used to reduce the federal deficit.