Florida’s Governor isn’t very popular at all:
Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s chances for re-election are in jeopardy, a new poll shows.
Scott, who narrowly beat Democrat Alex Sink in 2010, has been battling low approval ratings since he took office.
But a poll of registered voters in Florida released Wednesday found that 52 percent say he does not deserve a second term. Scott has already said he plans to run in 2014.
The Quinnipiac University poll also found that Scott is also vulnerable from a primary challenge within the Republican party. The survey said 53 percent of Republicans think another Republican should run against Scott.
“Gov. Rick Scott’s ratings with voters are just awful,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “The numbers cannot be sugar coated. When voters in a politician’s own party want him to be challenged in a primary by another candidate, it’s difficult to see it as anything but outright rejection.”
So far, at least, there hasn’t been talk of a Republican challenging Scott in 2014, but if these numbers hold up then that could change rather quickly. On the Democratic side, meanwhile, there’s one name that comes up:
By contrast the new poll shows that former Gov. Charlie Crist has a 47 percent favorable rating.
Crist was elected in 2006 as a Republican but then became an independent for an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate. But Crist this year endorsed President Barack Obama’s re-election and switched to a Democrat earlier this month. Crist’s decision to switch parties has heightened speculation he will challenge Scott.
Pollsters also asked voters about Sink, as well as other potential Democratic challengers to Scott including Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, former Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler and former state Sen. Nan Rich. Rich has already declared she’s running for governor.
Most voters had not heard of the other Democrats. Sink only had a 27 percent favorable rating, while 57 percent said they had not heard enough about her.
If Crist had decided to run for another term as Governor in 2010 instead of making an ill-fated bid for the Senate, he likely would have won re-election. He also likely would not have switched parties as he did recently. Now, he seems poised, if he wishes, to make a return bid for the Governor’s Office against a man who seems to be exceedingly unpopular even inside his own party.
