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Survey: Most Voters Satisfied With Crist's Job Performance

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By BILLY HOUSE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 18, 2008

Gov. Charlie Crist will be heavily favored if he runs for re-election in 2010, no matter who becomes the Democrat nominee for governor, a poll of Florida voters released today shows.

Although Crist enjoys a high job-approval rating of 68 percent, the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute says GOP Sen. Mel Martinez's approval mark is 42 percent – leaving him far more vulnerable than Crist if he runs for re-election in two years.

"Florida votes Democrat for president, unseats a couple of Republican congressmen, and the state GOP is worrying about the state turning blue, but nothing seems to hurt Gov. Crist," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the institute. "There are a lot of Democratic governors in America who aren't as a popular with members of their own party as is Crist, a Republican."

Half of the voters surveyed said they would vote for giving Crist a second term, while only 28 percent said they would vote for an unnamed Democratic opponent.

Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, who has a 35 percent job-approval rating, scores best among the Democratic officials mentioned as possible 2010 Crist opponents and whom respondents were asked to rate favorably or unfavorably.

But her 27-13 percent favorability rating comes as 59 percent of the voters say they don't know enough about her to form an opinion.

Still those numbers are better than U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd of Monticello, with an 11-5 percent favorability, Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami, with a 14-8 percent score, and State Sen.-elect Dan Gelber, with an 8-3 percent favorability.

Sink told the Tribune recently that she will look at the possibility of a U.S. Senate run, particularly if Martinez decides not to run for re-election in 2010. She has said in the past that she would rather run for governor but doesn't want to run against a popular incumbent like Crist.

The road for Martinez to winning a second term appears more difficult, Brown said.

If the election were today, 36 percent of those surveyed said they would vote for the senator, while 40 percent would support an unnamed Democratic opponent, and 24 percent said they were undecided.

"The key to his winning re-election will be winning back the allegiance of independent voters, who currently are not in his corner. But with a third of independents saying they re undecided, he certainly has an opportunity to accomplish that end," Brown said.

The survey also found:

• Crist's 68 percent job-approval rating was more than four times his 18 percent disapproval rating. That was up from a 61-25 rating Quinnipiac reported for Crist on Sept. 8.

• Martinez's 42 percent job-approval score compared with a 33 percent disapproval rating. He had a 37-32 score on Sept. 8.

• Attorney General Bill McCollum got a 51 percent job-approval rating, three times the 17 percent who give him a thumbs-down.

• Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson registered a 51-22 percent score.

• Only 30 percent of Florida voters approve of the job President George W. Bush is doing; 66 percent don't.

The telephone survey of 1,361 Florida voters Nov. 11 to 16 had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.

Reporter Billy House can be reached at (202) 662-7673.

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