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Are Voters Seeing Rick Scott Morph Into the Real Deal?
Around the State
It's a little early for the Rick Scott team to break out the expensive champagne. But maybe a good Merlot is in order.
If it isn't celebration time at the mansion, it should be. A little one, anyway. The governor just might have turned a corner.
Until last month, Scott's numbers were dropping like a prom dress – 29 percent approval in a May Qinnipiac Poll, 27 percent in a July Sunshine State News Poll. Now look. Here he is in last week's Q-Poll, his approval up to 35 percent.
Gov. Rick ScottOf course, the mainstreamers got in their usual dig. Their headlines: "Gov. Rick Scott's approval climbs, but still among worst in the country" or "For Rick Scott, bad polling numbers are good news" or "Scott’s approval ratings go 'from terrible to bad.'" All correct on the face of it. Popular he's not. Governors with a 35 percent approval rating don't get re-elected.
But, here's something they can't deny: Rick Scott was swimming upstream against a powerful antipolitician current when he posted that Q-Poll result. Voters right now are sour on anybody at any level, elected or appointed, that they perceive are ruining their lives and their country.
In the national Gallup Poll, even Barack Obama went from a 53 percent approval rate in May to a 42 percent approval in the first week of August. That means at the same time period the president loses 11 points in the nation, Scott gains 6 in Florida. As for Florida voters surveyed after the debt-ceiling deal, Obama's Q-Poll numbers are similar to his national ones. They say 50-42 that Obama does not deserve to be re-elected, compared to a 47-46 split before the deal and 50-44 support for his re-election when the May 26 poll was taken.
And look at Congress. Americans' opinion of that once-august body has sunk to a historic low, according to a CNN poll released last week. Only 14 percent of the poll's respondents said they approve of the way Congress is handling its job. Any known-quantity politician right now is taking it on the chin.
So, how come Rick Scott is bucking a negative trend he virtually set all by himself three months ago? Observers around Tallahassee account for his 6 points this way:
Comments (7)
Go Rick!!!
Perhaps you are being harsh. Florida is not hurting through any fault of Florida. Florida's economy was largely based on construction and tourism. We feed off on the people leaving the northern states and spending their money in Florida. But the Federal government screwed the economy up so bad, those people cannot maintain their two homes, take vacations, sell their homes to move here, so our economy is hurting because it is dependent on a healthy national economy. When Scott is finished, Florida will be shifting to more stable industrial base, pharmaceutical, medical devices, manufacturing, and theses will support the construction industry, bring the people to the jobs and bring the money and industry to Florida. Tom just doesn't understand that yet.
I like Rick Scott because he understands that government is the problem not the solution. Government has been adopting policies that kill jobs, kill innovation that creates jobs, regulates businesses out of business, and taxes them till they leave or go out of business. I suspect that you are a decent person and not willing to rob and steal your neighbor, so why ask the government to do it for you? It is just as immoral as doing it yourself.
If you hang in there Rick Scott will have Florida booming and your job opportunities will surpass any you have experienced.