Associated Press -- February 6, 2007
by Brent Kallestad
Tallahassee -- New Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who has led bipartisan
efforts to lower property insurance rates and replace touch-screen
voting machines, is getting overwhelming support from voters, a poll
released Tuesday shows.
More than two-thirds of Floridians, 69 percent, sampled in a random
telephone survey by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute approve
of the way their new governor has taken to his duties while only 6
percent disapproved.
Even an overwhelming majority of Democrats applauded the Republican
governor's performance with 65 percent giving a thumbs up and just 7
percent disapproving.
"It's very gratifying, but what's most important is to continue to
serve
the people," said Crist, who was traveling in the tornado-ravaged
central Florida area Tuesday.
"The paper trail, insurance reform, it's the right thing to do,"
Democratic Party spokesman Mark Bubriski said Tuesday. "He (Crist) has
taken a lot of Democratic ideas and pushed them to the forefront which
is a lot more than we expected."
More than half of the survey, taken between Jan. 29 and Feb. 4, was
completed by the time the tornados tore through central Florida.
Quinnipiac said the poll of 1,003 voters had a margin of error of plus
or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Former Gov. Jeb Bush's top rating came in September 2004 after a series
of destructive hurricanes when 62 percent approved of his performance
compared to 30 percent who didn't. Quinnipiac wasn't polling in Florida
in early 1999 when Bush took office.
Two-thirds of the respondents in Quinnipiac's newest poll believe Crist
has kept his campaign promises and three of five believe he'll get
homeowners insurance rates and property taxes reduced. Crist worked
with
Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature last month to pass a bill
aimed at lowering insurance rates.
He also appeared with Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler to announce a
proposal that would replace touch-screen voting machines, which have no
paper trail, with optical scan machines, which count paper ballots.
"He has made a very strong first impression," said Peter Brown,
assistant polling director for Quinnipiac. "It's Charlie Crist's show."
By comparison, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who won re-election the same day
Crist was elected, has a 54 percent approval rating compared to 18
percent who said they don't like how the Democrat is handling his job.
Florida's junior senator, Republican Mel Martinez, was at 48 percent
favorable to 22 percent unfavorable.
According to the poll, 59 percent said owners of homes of equal value
should pay the same amount of property tax no matter how long they've
resided in the home. Seventy-seven percent support the governor's call
to double the homestead exemption from $25,000 to $50,000.
Florida voters, however, were not enthused about moving up the date of
its early March presidential primary to increase the state's presence
in
picking the eventual nominees.
While Democratic voters were slightly more amenable to the idea, just
46
percent overall said they liked the idea compared to 36 percent opposed
to it with 19 percent unsure.
"It's hard to get people excited about political maneuvering," Brown
said.
more details and data tables at
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1297.xml?ReleaseID=1011
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