On Tuesday, Morning Consult released its third quarter polling looking at governors and U.S. senators across the nation and found three politicians from Florida--Gov. Rick Scott, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in solid shape.
While Scott, Nelson and Rubio failed to crack the top 10 most popular governors or senators in the nation, they also were not included as some of the most unpopular either.
Expected to challenge Nelson in next year’s Senate race, a clear majority--54 percent--of Floridians surveyed approve of Scott while 34 percent disapprove of him. Only 13 percent of those surveyed are not sure what they think of the governor.
Scott’s approval moved up since Morning Consult looked at where things stood in the second quarter of the year. At that time, 49 percent of those surveyed approved of Scott’s performance in Tallahassee.
Nelson is approved by half of those surveyed--50 percent--while around a quarter--26 percent--disapprove of him. Despite being on the Florida political stage for decades, including serving three terms in the Senate, 24 percent of voters are not sure what they of Nelson.
Rubio is also keeping his nose above water with 47 percent approving of him while 37 percent disapprove of him. Despite being at the start of his second term, Rubio is better known than Nelson with 16 percent not sure what they think of the Republican senator.
A poll from the University of North Florida (UNF) released last week showed somewhat similar numbers with 59 percent approval of Scott while 28 percent disapproved of him. Rubio had the approval of 42 percent of voters while 37 percent disapproved of him. Nelson had the approval of 35 percent of voters while 15 percent disapproved of him and 49 percent were not sure.
Mason-Dixon also released a poll last week looking at Scott and Nelson. That poll found 38 percent of those surveyed view Nelson in a favorable light while 21 percent saw him as unfavorable while 27 percent were neutral on him and 14 percent never heard of him. Scott was seen as favorable by 44 percent, unfavorable by 33 percent while 21 percent were neutral on him and 2 percent never heard of him.
The Morning Consult poll shows the ten most popular governors in the nation are all Republicans. Two Republicans governing blue states lead the pack as Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts is the most popular governor in the nation followed by fellow moderate Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland. Eight of the ten most unpopular governors in the nation are Republicans. Gov. Chris Christie, R-NJ, is the most unpopular governor in the nation followed by Gov. Dan Malloy, D-Ct., the only Democrat to crack the top 10 most unpopular governors. Independent Gov. Bill Waker of Alaska also made the list.
The poll found five Democrats, two independents who caucus with the Democrats and three Republicans are the most popular senators. Vermont’s two U.S. senators--independent Bernie Sanders and Democrat Pat Leahy--were the two most popular senators in the nation followed by U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, R-ND, and Maine’s delegation in Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and independent U.S. Sen. Angus King.
Eight of the ten most unpopular senators are Republicans while two are Democrats. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is the most unpopular senator in the nation followed by the two Republicans representing Arizona who have been critical of President Donald Trump: U.S. Sens. Jeff Flake, who announced earlier in the month that he would not run again in 2018, and John McCain. Scandal plagued U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-NJ, is next followed by U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.
Morning Consult’s polled 255,120 registered voters in all 50 states from July 1 to Sept. 30. The margin of error of the Florida sample was +/- 1 percent.
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