It shouldn't be such a surprise that a sidelines-sitter like Charlie Crist has higher voter approval than Sen. Marco Rubio.
Right now, Lord Voldemort would probably poll better than a member of Congress. Any member.
In fact, when you think about it, it's fairly impressive that Rubio, a freshman senator with a strong point of view on the volatile federal debt crisis and the courage to express it, managed a 38 percent favorable rating in the Sunshine State News Poll released last week.
That seems extraordinary to me when, same day as Sunshine posted its poll results, a national Gallup Poll revealed that only 18 percent of U.S. adults give a positive review of Capitol Hills job performance. Eighteen percent. I realize that's the public judging Congress as a whole, not individual congressmen. Still, it's an indication -- at least, to me -- that Florida voters think Rubio, the man who went out on a limb, who stands by his principles, is a cut above the mob on the Hill.
In an analysis of the poll results, Gallup's Frank Newport writes, Americans have been none too happy with their elected representatives in Washington for the past year and a half, and the current 18 percent job approval rating for Congress appears to reflect a continuation of this solidly negative view.
Nevertheless, Democrats in particular seemed gleefully stunned that in Thursday's Sunshine State News Poll, Charlie Crist pulled out an approval rating of 42 -- 4 points higher than Rubio's.
You know why that is as well as I do.
First, Charlie's not in Washington, he's at home with the rest of us. Unlike Rubio, nobody is evaluating his job performance, unless it's Morgan & Morgan, the law firm and big-time-Democratic-Party fundraiser he works for as a personal injury attorney in Orlando.
Second -- and this is where Charlie's tub-full-of-soap-flakes personality pays off -- he doesn't have an opinion on the biggest issue of our time, the federal debt. And he probably won't until he finds out which way the wind is blowing. But that's fodder for another discussion on another day.
Voters are afraid right now. They weren't afraid under Charlie. And because they haven't yet connected the dots between past and present, they give him a free pass.
Straw in This Poll Wouldn't Build a Bird's Nest
And the Tempest in a Teapot Award goes to Adam Hasner.
Seems the U.S. Senate candidate from South Florida last week won a Space Coast Tea Party straw poll, then e-blasted the whole of Florida -- or so it seemed -- a reprint of the Miami Herald story about it.
What Hasner was doing in his e-blast was trying to brag that hed whipped fellow candidate Mike Haridopolos in Haridopolos backyard.
According to the straw poll for U.S. Senate, former state Rep. Hasner got 36 votes; Mike McCallister, 24; George LeMieux, 12 votes; Haridopolos, 5 votes; and Undecided, 13 votes.
The poll also asked who voters would like least to see as senator: Haridopolos got 62 votes; LeMieux, 7; and Hasner, McCallister, Undecided and Democrat Bill Nelson, each 1.
I must be missing something here. While I certainly dont underestimate the power of the tea party in Florida, I dont believe the Space Coast teas represent teas all over the state.
And I count, at best, a total of 90 votes here. Ninety votes in a state of more than 12 million registered voters? There are more than 90 conservative voters who live in my condominium complex. Ninety is not a straw poll, its a game of Pick-Up Stix.
If I were Hasner, I wouldnt order the champagne just yet.
Not Much of a Race Card to Play
A July 12 Sunshine State News Poll that tracked voters' views of the Florida economy and compared the approval ratings of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney ended up souring a few readers here and there.
Your poll's invalid because you don't list respondents by race, they said.
I beg to differ. More important, so does Jim Lee, president and CEO of Voter Survey Service, which Sunshine State News commissions to do its polling. Here's what he has to say:
"Its a cheap shot. The survey is weighted for party, age, region, and so forth, so its spot on," Lee explains. "Besides, African-Americans account for less than 15 percent of the total Florida voter file, and even less among likely voters with vote history. And usually the percent who refuse this type of demographic question is even higher on an automated poll, so it doesnt give us a lot to work with from an analysis standpoint."
This was a poll story that delivered bad news to Democrats, showing 54 percent of voters disapprove of the job Obama is doing, 56 percent say the economy has worsened in the past year and, overall, voters are warming to Republican front-runner Romney.
Their complaints weren't about race, they were a counterattack. They were a desperate attempt to disparage a poll that confirms bad news.
This is what Jim Lee has to say, Democrats, and it's not about race, it's not about political tricks, it's not hyperbole. It is analysis: "No president since FDR has won re-election when the unemployment rate on Election Day topped 7.2 percent. History is not on Obamas side here when you consider that most economists dont expect the rate to fall below 8 percent by the time next year rolls around."
This is an opinion column by Nancy Smith. Reach Nancy at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
