Poll shows Floridians favor Obama

A newly released Quinnipiac University poll shows that a majority of Florida voters now believe President Obama deserves to be reelected. Obama’s numbers are up since April, when a 51 percent majority believed he did not deserve to be reelected. Current numbers give him a 51 percent approval rate, with 44 percent saying he should not be serve another term.

The same poll also shows Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., leading his three Republican challengers in the U.S. Senate race. Nelson leads former Sen. George LeMieux 47 percent to 27 percent and state Senate President Mike Haridopolos 47 percent to 26 percent. But polls show his biggest lead to be over former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, whom he leads 48 percent to 23 percent.

Though Nelson leads his opponents, the race is anything but over.

“At this point there is no real separation among the Republican candidates in terms of running against Nelson or in a primary matchup. They are all pretty far back,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, in a press release. “And given that almost two-thirds of Republican voters haven’t picked a candidate in the primary face- off, the race for the GOP nomination remains wide-open.”

Some may attribute the numbers to a “bin Laden” bounce, but recent support of Democrats might also be the result of dissatisfaction with current Florida politicians.

Another recent poll, also conducted by Quinnipac, shows that Florida voters disapprove 57 to 29 percent of the job Gov. Rick Scott is doing, the worst score of any governor in the country. Fifty-four percent of those polled said that Scott’s newly unveiled budget is “unfair to them.”

The budget, which is being signed today, has been a major point of contention for residents across the state, as it will kill 4,492 state jobs in the short term. Scott campaigned on a platform of job-creation and often touted his 7-7-7 plan, which he said would create 700,000 jobs, while on the campaign trail.

According to Quinnipac, “even Scott’s support among Republicans is relatively weak, with 51 percent of GOP voters approving and 37 percent disapproving of his job performance.” The majority of those polled disapprove of the state legislature 56-27 percent.

Disapproval of Republicans seems to be boding well for Democrats across the state. In normally conservative Jacksonville, Alvin Brown was recently elected the city’s first Democratic mayor in 10 years. Tampa also recently elected a Democrat — Bob Buckhorn — in its March mayoral election.