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Scott approval up but still low; Medicaid cuts for schools not popular

Posted Jan 10, 2012 by William March

Updated Jan 10, 2012 at 01:37 PM

Approval ratings for Gov. Rick Scott are up slightly, but still well below normal re-election levels, and voters don’t like his idea of cutting Medicaid to provide a boost for education spending, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.

Florida voters also were ambivalent about the gambling industry’s proposal for Las Vegas-style casinos. A majority appear to believe casinos would help the economy, but only a narrow plurality, 48 percent, favor allowing them, while 43 percent oppose it.

Asked whether they approve of Scott’s performance as governor, 50 percent said they don’t and 38 percent said they do.

That’s up from Scott’s lowest ranking in the same poll, 29 percent approval, in May, and from his 33-50 percent approval-disapproval rating in December.

Quinnipiac pollster Peter Brown said Scott “seems headed in the right direction” but “still has a long way to go to get into the voters’ good graces and the high 40s percent range in job approval which is the minimum generally needed for reelection – and less than three years to get there.”

He said Scott needs to improve the 67 percent approval rating he gets from among Republicans.

Scott has said talking with Floridians convinced him public education spending should be increased, after significant recent cuts, including last year in Scott’s first budget.

In his budget proposal for the coming year, Scott would add $1 billion in education funding, but balance the $66 billion spending plan by decreasing the amount paid to doctors and hospitals to treat Medicaid patients by about $1.8 billion.

Quinnipiac pollsters asked respondents in the poll, “As you may know, Medicaid is the government program which pays for health care for low income people. Would you support cutting Medicaid funding in order to increase education funding?”

The respondents said no by a margin of better than 2-1, 67 percent to 24 percent, with 10 percent don’t-know or no-answer responses.

Even Republicans opposed the idea by 59-30 percent.

Among other findings in the poll, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio got a 50-29 percent job approval, while Sen. Bill Nelson, who’s up for a re-election this year, got a 47-30 percent rating.

See full results here.