A new poll shows Gov. Rick Scott is treading water while Florida’s two U.S. senators -- Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Marco Rubio -- are in solid shape.
Quinnipiac University released a poll on Tuesday morning which shows 45 percent of Florida voters approve of Scott while 44 percent disagree. This is a shift from a Quinnipiac poll taken in June which had Scott upside down with 49 percent of voters disapproving of him and 39 percent approving of him. This also marks the first time since the start of Scott’s time in Tallahassee back in early 2011 that he was not upside down in a Quinnipiac poll.
Peter Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll, noted Scott has been out of the political limelight which helped his numbers bounce back.
"With little attention on him these days, Gov. Rick Scott gets his best approval rating ever, perhaps useful for the lame-duck governor who is rumored to be interested in running for the Senate in 2018," Brown said on Tuesday.
The poll shows Scott has nailed down the Republican base with 75 percent approving him and only 18 percent disapproving of him. Scott fares much worse with Democrats, as 69 percent disapprove of him while 20 percent approve of him. A majority of voters outside the major parties -- 51 percent -- disapprove of Scott while 38 percent approve of him.
There is also a gender gap on Scott. A majority of men -- 53 percent -- approve of him while 38 percent disapprove. But half of women -- 50 percent -- disapprove of Scott while 39 percent approve of him.
Now in the middle of his third term, Nelson is in solid shape in the new poll even as a quarter of Florida voters aren’t sure of him despite Nelson spending more than four decades on the political stage.
The poll shows 45 percent approve of Nelson, 30 percent disapprove of him while 25 percent aren’t sure.
Nelson is in good shape with his Democratic base as 65 percent approve of him and only 12 percent disapprove of him. He does worse with Republicans, with 45 percent disapproving of him but around a third -- 34 percent -- approving of him. Voters outside the major parties break Nelson’s way with 42 percent approving of him and 32 percent disapproving of him.
Less than a quarter of female voters -- 23 percent -- disapprove of Nelson while 47 percent approve of him. Nelson does worse with male voters as 43 percent approve of him and 38 percent disapprove of him.
Even if he is not the favorite GOP presidential hopeful in his home state, Florida Republicans look very favorably on Rubio, the poll shows. Rubio is approved by 87 percent of Florida Republicans while only 8 percent disapprove of him.
With all voters, Rubio is approved by 57 percent while 31 percent disapprove. More than half of Florida Democrats -- 56 percent -- disapprove of Rubio though 26 percent approve of him. Rubio does well with voters outside the major parties as 59 percent of them approve of him while 32 percent disapprove.
Rubio does well with men as 60 percent of them approve of him and 34 percent disapprove of him. Women also break Rubio’s way with 55 percent of them approving of him and 29 percent disapproving of him.
The poll of 1,093 Florida voters was taken from Aug. 7-18 and had a margin of error of +/- 3 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
