Poll: Tea party poses ‘real danger’ to GOP in Florida

www.rawstory.com...

Aligning yourself too closely to the tea party could be a great way to lose an election in Florida, apparently. So says a recent poll by Gainesville, Florida based polling firm War Room Logistics. In the poll, registered Florida voters said 2:1 that the tea party did not represent their views. War Room's Alex Patton says this could pose "a real danger to Republican candidates".

Democrats and independents both gave the tea party the thumbs down, with independent voters holding unfavorable views of the nascent far-right movement 3-to-1. Typically Florida elections are decided by independent voters, and the only constituency still in favor of the recent tide of tea party politicians elected in the Fall of 2010 are Republicans, 68 percent of whom view the tea party favorably.

Florida is always a key state in national elections and this news may not bode well for the GOP.

Patton says the risk for the GOP lies in embracing the tea party in order to win the primary election, then being pilloried in the general election by a population who find the tea party's views to be extreme and divisive. Primary elections, however, most often draw a party's most committed members, and in the Republicans' case, these are the voters most likely to support the tea party.

The Florida poll mirrors national Gallup polls that show only 33 percent of Americans holding favorable views of the Tea party. Pollster Dave Beattie says that one reason for the decline in popularity is that, "Republicans are parents, too, and they don't like cuts to the classroom."

IMO we need more partys like the TPM, not less. Obviously the "Two Party" system has been corrupted so that they have dwindling support. Not that I'm a TPM supporter as I see them as inherently racists; but I'm also for even giving racists a voice in American politics. Speak up! Voice your views! Become involved!

Wow. Being called racist in the OP!
That's a first. But hey, I'm not racist. I like white folks just fine, thank you very much.

Anyway, back to the racist OP about the racist Tea Party. people are scared. They are afraid of change. The thought that they may lose entitlements scares them. They may have to live/work/save/shop/function on their own without the help of Big Brother Government.

It's understandable, Kitten. Diddums is scared. Just take my hand and we can walk to "Personal Responsibility" Town together.

I think Florida voters are regretting who they voted in for Governor. Has the worst approval rating of any governor in the country. Was a former Bush crony.

A Quinnipiac University poll last month showed Floridians disapproved of Scott's job performance by a nearly two-to-one margin, with only 29 percent approving. At the time, it was among the lowest marks earned by any of the nation's big state governors

www.palmbeachpost.com...

reply to post by whaaa


Wow, the polls are usually wrong, but this is outrageous.

The Tea Party supported Rubio into his office. They supported Steve Sutherland into his office. They supported Rick Scott into his office.

The Miami Herald seems concerned with whether or not the Tea Party agrees with Rick Scott's agenda so far.

The Huffington Post agrees that Florida has been the Tea Party's biggest success.

The St. Petersburg Times seems to think the Tea Party is more important than the traditional GOP package.

This is just another way of trying to influence polling by reporting on substandard polling. This is the same thing they are doing in the MSM to Ron Paul.

People, do not believe the polls, vote your consciences, and let the real vote be the one that counts, not some shoddy poll!

reply to post by whaaa


First off, the Tea Party, is not really a party...yet. It compromises many people of all stripes and beliefs. Grab two random people at a rally and you will find that they only agree on one thing. They just want a smaller, less intrusive Government. One that spends money in a fiscally responsible manner. How they get there is another matter.

The War Room Logistics is a partisan polling group. Don't take what they say as truth.

reply to post by whaaa


I will say this.....

The Tea Partiers have very little patience. If we support someone into office, they better dam well deliver on their campaign promises, or that support will turn to ire very quickly!

Silly little Tea partiers continuously rambling on about the constitution, founding fathers and other meaningless crap.

Statist fools they are.

This is what happens when you elect people who's whole policy statement fits on a bumper sticker. When all you have to offer is jingoism and misconceptions, we end up with idiots for leaders. I dont know where we turned the corner to the leaders cannot be smarter or better educated than the least common denominator.

reply to post by whaaa


Is it any wonder? The new governor is a complete a-hole. His old company had to pay the largest fraud fine ever of $1.7B (that's a B) for defrauding the taxpayer when he was CEO. He exits with a $300M golden parachute. He bankrolls his election where he lied repeatedly in ads and made himself look like a sweet hero of humanity.

Fast forward. He uses state money to have press conferences in PUBLIC areas where he uses cops to keep out people who do not support him. He trucks fake audiences around with him. He guts education funding by billions then sets up a photo opp with little kids holding signs about how the governor is for education. Turned out the kids were bused in from a private school operated by one his best business assiciates who is now flush with much more state money for his charter schools.

He has a ready made "support" letter on the state website that allows you to automatically forward an essentially I-love-our-wonderful-governor letter directly to prominent Florida newspapers in an effort to counter the flood of negative letters to the editors hitting the papers.

He has lost the support of the police and fire organizations in just a few months. They have publicly withdrawn their support.

Just yesterday he showed up at a south FL waste water treatment plant to sign a bill that cut $128 in regional property taxes. This cut translates into 50 cents per homeowner per month savings, but it cost about 1900 local jobs, including a great many at the plant he was visiting. When asked about it he said he supported creation of private sector jobs (ergo, he did not care if public water workers lost their working collar jobs). That he had the heartless gall to sign the bill at the one place where it kills many of the jobs was widely blasted in the press as simply cruel.

A few weeks ago he encountered protests of fairly mild seniors at a public event. He ordered local cops to move them away from the camera angles and mics. The cops can be heard on YouTube apologizing to the seniors saying they are just following orders.

He rejected billions in federal money for the train between Orlando and Tampa because he said it would cost the taxpayer money. So a consortium of public and private organizations killed themselves to come up with a plan that contractually covered all the costs and guaranteed no cost to the taxpayer. The gov still rejected the money. Jobs lost? Estimated thousands.

He shortened unemployment to max of 20 weeks even as FL unemployment is already the LOWEST in the nation at $275/week. Now hundreds are falling off the rolls (makes his employment look better) and facing homelessness.

He passed a law that forces drug testing of both state workers and state welfare recipients. State workers got so furious he quietly halted that part of the requirement, but now welfare recipients have their 4th amendment rights violated for his glee. Oh by the way, there was NO study that showed a signifcant problem with welfare recipients being on drugs. Oh and the fun kicker, his former start that he turned over to his wife (and recently she may turned it over too) is a MAJOR benefactor of that law since it makes its money off......drug testing. Now its his cronies business and they are pulling in millions in new money.

We have no recall, but hopefully someone comes along and takes him out. We are only a few months into his term and he has the lowest approval rating in the country and he is destroying the state.

Did I mention he has gutted state environmental laws?

God, the list goes on foreever of the havoc he hath wraught in nary 6 months. He is the essense of crony capitalism at its worst. so far EVERY bill he has signed has funneled money into crony companies. He will be locked before too long.

reply to post by pajoly


I knew he was bad...i have family in florida....but had no idea he was that big of a scumbag.

wow.

That sounds like the Democratic talking points from the election, and most of it is false or exaggerated. I work for the state, and I have been a victim of the paycuts and job losses, and yet I still support the Governor's position on most of the things you have referenced in your post.

Here is my take:

Originally posted by pajoly
reply to post by whaaa

 

Is it any wonder? The new governor is a complete a-hole. His old company had to pay the largest fraud fine ever of $1.7B (that's a B) for defrauding the taxpayer when he was CEO. He exits with a $300M golden parachute. He bankrolls his election where he lied repeatedly in ads and made himself look like a sweet hero of humanity.

As far as I know, the offenses took place before he absorbed that company, and once his company was in control they expedited the situation, settled, and paid the fines.

Fast forward. He uses state money to have press conferences in PUBLIC areas where he uses cops to keep out people who do not support him. He trucks fake audiences around with him.

This is something that every elected official does. Congressman Boyd had to run out the back of his town hall meetings a couple of times while the cops held every one at bay so he could escape. In general politicians are scumbags, and the incumbents use taxpayer resources for their scumbaggery. In this regard, Rick Scott is certainly no worse than any other, and from what I have seen, he is a little better.

He guts education funding by billions then sets up a photo opp with little kids holding signs about how the governor is for education. Turned out the kids were bused in from a private school operated by one his best business assiciates who is now flush with much more state money for his charter schools.

I haven't heard of this event, and I don't agree with all of the education cuts, although I do like the incentive based salaries and the fact that tenure is going away. Teachers should be paid for performance and nothing else.

He has a ready made "support" letter on the state website that allows you to automatically forward an essentially I-love-our-wonderful-governor letter directly to prominent Florida newspapers in an effort to counter the flood of negative letters to the editors hitting the papers.

His website Florida has a Right to know also has all of the state's budget, spending, contracts, salaries, and everything else he promised on the campaign trail. He delivered what he promised.

He has lost the support of the police and fire organizations in just a few months. They have publicly withdrawn their support.

He lost their support because of the same funding cuts that they supported when he was campaigning. They thought they could support him, get him into office, and then tweak his approach to benefit themselves. Instead, he has followed through on cutting the budget the way he promised and they are disappointed in their lack of influence.

He rejected billions in federal money for the train between Orlando and Tampa because he said it would cost the taxpayer money. So a consortium of public and private organizations killed themselves to come up with a plan that contractually covered all the costs and guaranteed no cost to the taxpayer. The gov still rejected the money. Jobs lost? Estimated thousands.

Again, just as he promised, he did away with a horrible project that would have had major cost overruns, and he turned down the ridiculous bailout money, and instead he tried to convince the Federal government to invest in our ports and infrastructure. When the Fed refused to support the common sense approach, he turned down the money and worked on his own to build our infrastructure improvements for a major initiative with Central and South America. Things don't happen overnight, but his plan should bring Billions in business and jobs to Florida and make us the preeminent state in the Union for imports and shipping!

He shortened unemployment to max of 20 weeks even as FL unemployment is already the LOWEST in the nation at $275/week. Now hundreds are falling off the rolls (makes his employment look better) and facing homelessness.

Good! There are jobs available. Everywhere I turn in Tallahassee there are help wanted signs. There are businesses that can barely cover their shifts due to turnover and poor attendance. I have had 3 people in the past year beg me to fire them, so they could collect unemployment. 20 weeks is plenty of time to find another job.

He passed a law that forces drug testing of both state workers and state welfare recipients. State workers got so furious he quietly halted that part of the requirement, but now welfare recipients have their 4th amendment rights violated for his glee. Oh by the way, there was NO study that showed a signifcant problem with welfare recipients being on drugs. Oh and the fun kicker, his former start that he turned over to his wife (and recently she may turned it over too) is a MAJOR benefactor of that law since it makes its money off......drug testing. Now its his cronies business and they are pulling in millions in new money.

More rumors and lies. The contract for drug testing would have to go through the competitive bid process just like every other contract in the state, and the process is readily apparent on the MyFloridaMarketPlace website, and on the Governor's own site.

None of the "good" state workers were against the drug testing. In fact, every state employee already signs a waiver allowing drug testing, so the provisions are already there. The only difference was going to be actually enforcing the requirement pre-employment. I have had several employees that our human resource department and legal advisors refused to let me drug test, despite admissions that they were high at work! It is ridiculous that we are hamstrung by the threat of lawsuits, when every other corporation in the state is drug testing its employees.

In fact, I am sorely disappointed, as a state worker and supervisor, that he caved in on this point.

Even after the 4500 jobs that were cut, there is still a huge waste in state government. I see it everyday. I have made suggestions for further cuts, but the state worker mentality is to not let any positions go, and protect the positions you have, whether you need them or not. The system is broken.

As far as approval rating, they come and go. Polling is useless, only the elections count, and he won that!