Florida’s unemployment rate edged up from 11.7 percent to 11.8 percent from August to September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which released its state-by-state statistics Friday. Maryland was the only other state to register an increase in the unemployment rate from August to September. The national unemployment rate remains at 9.6 percent.
How voters feel about the economy correlates with how they will vote in the Florida governor’s race, according to the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. In an Oct. 12 poll, 20 percent of Florida voters saw the economy as getting better, 43 percent saw it as about the same and 34 percent saw it as getting worse.
Among voters who saw the economy as getting better, Democratic candidate and Florida CFO Alex Sink had a 69-22 percent advantage, while those who saw the economy as worse favored Republican candidate Rick Scott by a 58-25 percent margin. Those who saw it as about the same split between Sink and Scott.
Both candidates are running on their previous business records, and both have said they see improving the economy and increasing jobs as their primary goals as governor.
Luke Johnson reports on Florida for The American Independent.
