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PPP poll: Crist popular among Dems, leads Scott by 14

Posted Jan 16, 2013 by William March

Updated Jan 16, 2013 at 03:08 PM

Following his switch to the Democratic Party, former Gov. Charlie Crist now gets high favorability ratings among Democrats and leads Republican Gov. Rick Scott 53-39 percent in a new Public Policy Polling survey.

The poll suggests Crist is the early frontrunner for the Democratic nomination to run against Scott in 2014.

Scott’s job approval ratings, meanwhile, have dropped to 33 percent, with 57 percent disapproval. That’s a drop from 37 percent favorable and 48 percent unfavorable ratings in a PPP poll in early November.

Democratic respondents in the survey expressed 70 percent favorable opinions of Crist to 16 percent unfavorable, a huge improvement from a September poll that showed him with 44 percent favorable and 33 percent unfavorable ratings. That September poll was done while Crist was still an Independent; the former Republican governor switched to Democratic last month, and campaigned actively for President Barack Obama late in the presidential race.

Asked whom they’d like to be their 2014 nominee for governor, 52 percent of the Democrats picked Crist, compared to 18 percent for former state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink of Tampa, 13 percent for former Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, 4 percent for Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and 1 percent for former state Sen. Nan Rich.

Full results here.

Public Policy Polling is a North Carolina-based, Democratic-oriented political consulting firm that says its published polls are neutral and not paid for by any political candidate or group.

This poll included 501 Florida voters interviewed Jan. 11-13 by automated-dial or “robopoll” methods, for an error margin of 4.4 percentage points, including 401 Democrats for a 4.9-point error margin on Democrats-only questions.