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Peter Brown, Assistant Director, Q ui nnipiac University Polling Institute (203) 535-6203 Rubenstein Associates, Inc.

Public Relations Contact: Pat Smith (212) 843-8026

FOR RELEASE: 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
Florida voters, especially women, like Gov. Rick Scott more as a person, but all voters still disapprove 50 37 percent of the job hes 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 Scotts 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. -more-

Quinnipiac University Poll/September 21, 2011 page 2 Although Scotts 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 Scotts personal rating, they say they dont 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. Scotts ratings on the fairness of his budget is a key to his improvement, said Brown. Voters dont 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? Tot Approve Disapprove DK/NA 37% 50 13 Rep 70% 18 12 Dem 8% 82 10 Ind 34% 54 12 Men 42% 46 12 Wom 31% 55 14 WtBrnAgn Evnglcl 50% 38 12

TREND: Do you approve or disapprove of the way Rick Scott is handling his job as Governor? Sep 21 2011 Approve Disapprove DK/NA 37 50 13 Aug 05 2011 35 52 14 May 25 2011 29 57 14 Apr 06 2011 35 48 17 Feb 02 2011 35 22 43

8. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Marco Rubio is handling his job as United States Senator? Tot Approve Disapprove DK/NA 49% 31 20 Rep 81% 10 9 Dem 19% 52 29 Ind 52% 30 18 Men 54% 30 15 Wom 44% 31 25 WtBrnAgn Evnglcl 65% 19 15

TREND: Do you approve or disapprove of the way Marco Rubio is handling his job as United States Senator? DEBT DEAL..... Post Pre Aug 04 Aug 04 2011 2011 49 36 15 45 35 20

Sep 21 2011 Approve Disapprove DK/NA 49 31 20

May 26 2011 49 26 24

Apr 07 2011 47 23 30

Feb 03 2011 42 20 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? Tot Like Don't Like DK/NA 37% 37 26 Rep 60% 19 21 Dem 21% 55 24 Ind 35% 37 28 Men 39% 38 24 Wom 36% 36 29 WtBrnAgn Evnglcl 49% 27 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 2011 Like Don't Like DK/NA 37 37 26 Aug 05 2011 34 45 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? Tot Like Don't Like DK/NA 35% 53 12 Rep 65% 21 13 Dem 6% 85 9 Ind 33% 55 12 Men 44% 48 9 Wom 27% 58 15 WtBrnAgn Evnglcl 47% 42 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 2011 Like Don't Like DK/NA 35 53 12 Aug 05 2011 34 54 12

18. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Rick Scott is handling the state budget? Tot Approve Disapprove DK/NA 36% 53 11 Rep 65% 24 12 Dem 9% 82 9 Ind 34% 55 11 Men 45% 49 6 Wom 26% 57 16 WtBrnAgn Evnglcl 45% 41 14

TREND: Do you approve or disapprove of the way Rick Scott is handling the state budget? Sep 21 2011 Approve Disapprove DK/NA 36 53 11 Aug 05 2011 32 57 11 May 25 2011 30 59 11 Apr 06 2011 36 55 9

19. Do you think the state budget is fair or unfair to people like you? Tot Fair Unfair DK/NA 41% 48 11 Rep 66% 26 9 Dem 18% 73 9 Ind 41% 47 12 Men 49% 43 8 Wom 33% 54 13 WtBrnAgn Evnglcl 49% 38 13

TREND: Do you think the state budget is fair or unfair to people like you? (* "new state budget") Sep 21 2011 Fair Unfair DK/NA 41 48 11 Aug 05 2011* 33 51 16 May 25 2011* 29 54 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? Tot Too far Not far enough About right DK/NA 41% 24 25 10 Rep 21% 31 42 6 Dem 64% 17 11 8 Ind 41% 23 25 11 Men 36% 29 28 8 Wom 47% 19 23 11 WtBrnAgn Evnglcl 34% 19 34 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 2011 Too far Not far enough About right DK/NA 41 24 25 10 Aug 05 2011* 42 20 25 13 May 25 2011* 47 18 22 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? Tot Approve Disapprove DK/NA 71% 27 2 Rep 90% 8 2 Dem 49% 50 2 Ind 75% 24 1 Men 70% 28 1 Wom 73% 25 2 WtBrnAgn Evnglcl 83% 14 3

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