Former health care executive Rick Scott has a 49-43 edge over Florida CFO Alex Sink in the race for governor, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Friday. Both candidates capture about 87 percent of their party vote and around 40 percent of respondents view them unfavorably and favorably. Independent voters are breaking 46-40 percent for Scott. The margin of error in the poll was +/- 2.9 percentage points.
Give credit to the pollsters for asking about both candidates’ ad campaigns — according to the Nielsen Company, both candidates ran over 3,000 ads last week, with Scott running just 130 more than his opponent. Fifty-four percent of voters found Scott’s ads “annoying,” and 38 percent of voters said his ad campaign was “excessive.” Forty-six percent of voters found Alex Sink’s ads “annoying,” while only 17 percent of voters said the number of ads was “excessive,” probably because she did not have a primary campaign like Scott.
President Obama had very low approval ratings — just 40 percent of Floridians approve of the job he is doing as president, while 56 percent disapprove. That number is likely hurting Sink, even though she has tried to distance herself from the president.
A silver lining for Sink: Quinnipiac’s poll right before the Florida gubernatorial primary turned out to be the opposite of the result. The day before the Aug. 24 vote, Quinnipiac released a poll showing that Republican primary voters favored Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum by a 39-35 percent margin; Scott ended up winning, 46-44 percent.
Luke Johnson reports on Florida for The American Independent.
