A new poll released Wednesday on the upcoming 2014 gubernatorial race shows the path to Florida’s governor’s mansion is a lot less certain for most of the candidates than it was a few months ago. The Libertarian candidate for governor is making inroads with voters—at the expense of Democratic hopeful Charlie Crist.
Wednesday Libertarian Gubernatorial Candidate Adrian Wyllie got some of the best news yet in his bid to lead Florida. It came through the latest Quinnipiac poll on the Governor’s race which, in recognizing the Libertarian as a contender, also showed him getting nine-percent support among the people polled. That’s a good showing for a third-party candidate, Wyllie says.
"Basically it just confirms what our internal polling data has been telling us for a while. Actually, our internal polling data shows us a little higher than that but it’s fairly consistent with what we’ve been seeing.”
Wyllie has criticized Republican Governor Rick Scott and potential Democratic nominee Charlie Crist as being too far to the left—saying their policies amount to too much state intervention in people’s lives.
“I think it reflects the mood of the voters. I sincerely believe the voters are tired of both the Republican and Democratic party, they’ve been lied to for years and [have] never seen the promises delivered," Wyllie says. "I think most voters are libertarian. They just want to get government out of their wallets, out of their bedrooms and out of their business.”
Wyllie has also been pushing to be included in the gubernatorial debates. The major media outlets that host them usually require candidates to get above 10-percent of voter support according to the polls. Quinnipiac Polling Institute Assistant Director Peter Brown told reporters that Wyllie is close, with most of his support coming from Independents. That support, Brown notes, comes at the expense of Charlie Crist.
“Crist’s lead among independents constitute most of his lead over Scott in a two-person matchup. With Mr. Wyllie in the race, independents are almost even. So in this one poll, among this sample of people who say they support Mr. Wyllie, Mr. Wyllie is taking more independent votes away from Mr. Crist.”
Brown says Wyllie’s run may not end at the state governor’s mansion, but he could decide who gets to live there. But don’t tell that to Wyllie.
“I think right now that’s the general school of thought among the pollsters and the media," Wyllie says. They’ve acknowledged that I’m going to have an impact on the race, but they haven’t acknowledged I have a real shot to win it. And I disagree.”
He’s got a lot less money, and certainly not as much air time as Crist and Scott, but Wyllie says he’s in the race to win it. According to the Quinnipiac Poll, Florida voters don’t like Crist or Scott.
