Despite carrying Florida twice, President Barack Obama remains underwater in the Sunshine State, a new poll shows.
Quinnipiac University released a poll on Monday morning which finds a majority of those surveyed -- 51 percent -- disapprove of Obama while 43 percent approve of his performance in the White House. Florida is expected to be a swing state in next year’s presidential election. Only 5 percent are not sure how they feel about Obama.
Florida’s two U.S. senators are in better shape, the poll finds. Half of those surveyed -- 50 percent -- approve of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio who is running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and has said he will not run for a second term in the Senate, while 38 percent disapprove of him. Only 12 percent are not sure how they feel about Rubio.
Despite having been in the Senate since first being elected in 2000, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., is not as well-known, with 48 percent approving of him and 27 percent disapproving of him. Nelson faces the voters in 2018 and has left the door open to running for a fourth term. But a quarter of those surveyed -- 26 percent -- are not sure how they feel about Nelson who has held elected office in the Sunshine State for four decades.
Gov. Rick Scott is upside down in the poll with almost half of those surveyed -- 49 percent -- disapproving of him while 39 percent approve of his work in Tallahassee and 12 percent are not sure.
With a special session ending last week to pass the budget, half of those surveyed -- 50 percent -- disapprove of the Florida Legislature while a third -- 33 percent -- approve of it. The remaining 17 percent are not sure about the Legislature.
The poll of 1,147 Florida voters was taken from June 4-15 and had a margin of error of +/- 2.9 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
