September 21, 2011 - Florida Women Like Scott More, But Job Score Is Bad, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Voters Back Drug Tests For Welfare Recipients 2-1 Word format Florida voters, especially women, like Gov. Rick Scott more as a person, but all voters still disapprove 50 - 37 percent of the job he's doing, in a Quinnipiac University poll released today, compared to a 52 - 35 percent disapproval August 5 and a 57 - 29 percent disapproval May 25. Asked if they like the governor as a person, no matter how they feel about his policies, voters split 37 - 37 percent, compared to a 45 - 34 percent dislike in the August 5 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University. Women split 36 - 36 percent on liking Scott, compared to a 47 - 30 percent dislike August 5. Men also split, 39 - 38 percent, virtually unchanged from 39 - 42 percent last month. On job approval, Republicans give a 70 - 18 percent thumbs up, compared to 61 - 23 percent in August, while women disapprove 55 - 31 percent, compared to 58 - 30 percent last month. Democrats disapprove 82 - 8 percent compared to 78 - 14 last month. Independent voters disapprove 54 - 34 percent compared to 50 - 33 in August. Men disapprove 46 - 42 percent compared to 46 - 40 last month. And, Florida voters now say 48 - 41 percent that Scott's budget is unfair to people like them, an improvement from August when they said "unfair" 51 - 33 percent and May when they said "unfair" 54 - 29 percent. "Gov. Rick Scott has been trying to put on a charm offensive - both in changing how he deals with the news media and spending more time meeting ordinary Floridians from around the state. It appears to be working, at least a little," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling institute. "During his first six months in office Gov. Scott alienated the news media and did not make the effort to explain his program to the general public, as he has been doing recently." "Although Scott's approval ratings remain underwater, voters like him more as a person," Brown added. "The governor has improved, not surprisingly, among Republicans, but in addition to solidifying his base, the governor is better off among women, who dislike him a little less. "Gov. Scott certainly has a long way to go till he can see the breakeven point, but his ratings that dropped to awful are now just bad. It is reasonable to assume that his improvement is an endorsement of his new outreach strategy." While voters split down the middle on Scott's personal rating, they say they don't like his policies by 53 - 35 percent. By 53 - 36 percent they say they do not approve of his handling of the state budget. "The improvement in Gov. Scott's ratings on the fairness of his budget is a key to his improvement," said Brown. "Voters don't like politicians they see as being unfair, especially when it comes to cutting programs for people. Politicians who can convince voters they are being fair on budget issues gain a leg up with the electorate." Florida voters support 71 - 27 percent a law requiring welfare recipients to pass drug tests. There are substantial partisan disagreements, but no gender gap. Republicans back the law 90 - 8 percent, as do independent voters 75 - 24 percent. Democrats split 49 - 50 percent. Men back the drug test requirement 70 - 28 percent, while women support it 73 - 25 percent. "Voters overwhelmingly like the requirement that welfare recipients must pass drug tests to receive benefits. But the issue is now before the courts where the only opinion that matters is that of the judge," Brown said. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio does better than Scott among Florida voters. He has a 49 - 31 percent approval rating, with positive scores of 81 - 10 percent among Republicans and 52 - 30 percent among independent voters. Democrats disapprove 52 - 19 percent. There is a gender gap as men approve 54 - 30 percent and women approve 44 - 31 percent. From September 14 - 19, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,007 registered voters with a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points. Live interviewers call land lines and cell phones. The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Virginia and the nation as a public service and for research. For more data or RSS feed- http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, call (203) 582-5201, or follow us on Twitter. 7. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Rick Scott is handling his job as Governor? WtBrnAgn Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom Evnglcl Approve 37% 70% 8% 34% 42% 31% 50% Disapprove 50 18 82 54 46 55 38 DK/NA 13 12 10 12 12 14 12 TREND: Do you approve or disapprove of the way Rick Scott is handling his job as Governor? Sep 21 Aug 05 May 25 Apr 06 Feb 02 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 Approve 37 35 29 35 35 Disapprove 50 52 57 48 22 DK/NA 13 14 14 17 43 8. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Marco Rubio is handling his job as United States Senator? WtBrnAgn Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom Evnglcl Approve 49% 81% 19% 52% 54% 44% 65% Disapprove 31 10 52 30 30 31 19 DK/NA 20 9 29 18 15 25 15 TREND: Do you approve or disapprove of the way Marco Rubio is handling his job as United States Senator? DEBT DEAL..... Post Pre Sep 21 Aug 04 Aug 04 May 26 Apr 07 Feb 03 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 2011 Approve 49 49 45 49 47 42 Disapprove 31 36 35 26 23 20 DK/NA 20 15 20 24 30 37 16. Regardless of how you feel about Rick Scott's policies, would you say you like or don't like Rick Scott as a person? WtBrnAgn Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom Evnglcl Like 37% 60% 21% 35% 39% 36% 49% Don't Like 37 19 55 37 38 36 27 DK/NA 26 21 24 28 24 29 24 TREND: Regardless of how you feel about Rick Scott's policies, would you say you like or don't like Rick Scott as a person? Sep 21 Aug 05 2011 2011 Like 37 34 Don't Like 37 45 DK/NA 26 21 17. And regardless of how you feel about Rick Scott as a person, would you say you like or don't like most of Rick Scott's policies? WtBrnAgn Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom Evnglcl Like 35% 65% 6% 33% 44% 27% 47% Don't Like 53 21 85 55 48 58 42 DK/NA 12 13 9 12 9 15 11 TREND: And regardless of how you feel about Rick Scott as a person, would you say you like or don't like most of Rick Scott's policies? Sep 21 Aug 05 2011 2011 Like 35 34 Don't Like 53 54 DK/NA 12 12 18. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Rick Scott is handling the state budget? WtBrnAgn Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom Evnglcl Approve 36% 65% 9% 34% 45% 26% 45% Disapprove 53 24 82 55 49 57 41 DK/NA 11 12 9 11 6 16 14 TREND: Do you approve or disapprove of the way Rick Scott is handling the state budget? Sep 21 Aug 05 May 25 Apr 06 2011 2011 2011 2011 Approve 36 32 30 36 Disapprove 53 57 59 55 DK/NA 11 11 11 9 19. Do you think the state budget is fair or unfair to people like you? WtBrnAgn Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom Evnglcl Fair 41% 66% 18% 41% 49% 33% 49% Unfair 48 26 73 47 43 54 38 DK/NA 11 9 9 12 8 13 13 TREND: Do you think the state budget is fair or unfair to people like you? (* "new state budget") Sep 21 Aug 05 May 25 2011 2011* 2011* Fair 41 33 29 Unfair 48 51 54 DK/NA 11 16 16 20. What do you think about the cuts in state spending in the budget? Do you think the cuts in state spending go too far, not far enough or are they about right? WtBrnAgn Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom Evnglcl Too far 41% 21% 64% 41% 36% 47% 34% Not far enough 24 31 17 23 29 19 19 About right 25 42 11 25 28 23 34 DK/NA 10 6 8 11 8 11 13 TREND: What do you think about the cuts in state spending in the budget? Do you think the cuts in state spending go too far, not far enough or are they about right? (* "new budget") Sep 21 Aug 05 May 25 2011 2011* 2011* Too far 41 42 47 Not far enough 24 20 18 About right 25 25 22 DK/NA 10 13 13 21. A new Florida law requires new welfare recipients to undergo drug testing to be eligible for benefits. Do you approve or disapprove of this new law? WtBrnAgn Tot Rep Dem Ind Men Wom Evnglcl Approve 71% 90% 49% 75% 70% 73% 83% Disapprove 27 8 50 24 28 25 14 DK/NA 2 2 2 1 1 2 3 Demographic Summary
