A Sachs/Mason-Dixon poll released Friday found that Florida Republicans remain undecided on who they want to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012. While Nelson is beating the various Republican hopefuls, he failed to crack 50 percent against any of them, despite his decades on Floridas political stage.
Of voters surveyed, 52 percentwere undecided. U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, who has left the door open to running but has done little in terms of building a foundation for the campaign, took 14 percent, followed by U.S. Rep. Allen West --who announced earlier in the week that he was not running --with 11 percent. Former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner led actual announced candidates with 8 percent followed by former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux with 7 percent. Businessman Craig Miller took 5 percent followed by retired Army officer and businessman Mike McCalister with 2 percent. Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee -- who is also not an announced candidate -- took 1 percent.
Florida Republicans are voting undecided in a big way with less than one year before the Florida Senate Republican primary, said Ron Sachs, president of Sachs Communications.
The poll also found Nelson holding solid leads over most of the field but failing to crack 50 percent. West came closest to topping Nelson though the Democrat led 44 percent to 38 percent. Nelson beat out LeMieux, 49 percent to 34 percent. Nelson took 45 percent against Hasner who trailed with 34 percent. The Democrat beat Buchanan by a similar margin -- 45 percent to 35 percent.
While Senator Nelson has a comfortable lead for now, Republicans have yet to find their candidate and the field has yet to be settled, said Sachs, who was communications director under former Gov. Lawton Chiles.
The Sachs/Mason-Dixon poll of 625 regular voters was taken from Aug. 18-22 and had a margin of error of +/- 4 percent. The poll of 300 likely Republican primary voters had a margin of error of +/- 5.8 percent.
Republicans at the state and national level have been turning up the heat on Nelson this week.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) pointed to a Magellan poll released earlier in the week that showed both President Barack Obama and Nelson are upside down in the Sunshine State and in serious jeopardy of losing Florida in 2012.
After maxing out the government credit card, cutting Medicare and raising taxes, while failing to create jobs, its no surprise that President Obama and his loyal ally Bill Nelson are in trouble heading into next years election, said Jahan Wilcox, a spokesman for the NRSC, on Thursday. With an unemployment rate of 10.7 percent, its clear that Bill Nelsons tax-and-spend agenda is the wrong direction for Florida.
Hasner also came out swinging at Nelson on Thursday.
"Senator Nelson is the kind of career Washington politician who makes real reform impossible. Despite being in and out of Congress since the Carter administration, most Floridians couldn't tell you where Senator Nelson stands on any issue. He says he supports tax reform, but that's just code for job-killing tax hikes. He says he supports a bipartisan approach to solving our fiscal crisis, but he voted in lockstep with Washington Democrats to kill the balanced budget amendment. He says the hyper-partisanship in Washington needs to stop, yet he votes with President Obama 99 percent of the time, said Hasner in a statement released on Thursday morning.
"In order to grow jobs in Florida, we need a balanced approach in Washington to rein in spending, eliminate tax loopholes, and cut tax rates for individuals and corporations, continued Hasner. This is far different than Senator Nelson's vision of selectively raising taxes to fuel more Washington spending. Senator Nelson has never achieved any significant tax or spending reforms during the decades he's spent in Washington. Why should Floridians believe giving him another six years will result in anything different?"
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
