McCollum
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Legal Newsline) - Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has some ground to make up if he wants to be the state's next governor, a recent poll shows.
A poll conducted by Quinnipiac University shows Democrat Alex Sink with a 38-34 lead over McCollum, who is attempting to succeed Gov. Charlie Crist for a second time. Crist was the state's attorney general until 2007 and is now running for U.S. Senate next year.
Sink is currently the state's chief financial officer. Strangely, McCollum holds a better job approval rating, the poll shows.
"One reason may be that in the survey he is identified as a Republican and she a Democrat," said Peter Brown, assistant director of Quinnipiac University of Polling Institute.
"In Florida, as in much of the nation these days, the GOP label is not necessarily a plus, even though 50 percent of voters say the fact that Florida's governor has been Republican since 1998 has been good for the state, compared to 37 percent who say GOP rule has been bad for Florida."
Sink leads 72-11 among Democrats, while McCollum leads 72-5 among Republicans and 32-27 among independents.
Eleven percent of voters said that the possibility of Sink being Florida's first female governor makes them more likely to vote for her. Eighty-one percent said it didn't matter.
Quinnipiac polled 1,245 Florida voters from June 2-7. The margin of error is plus/minus 2.8 percentage points.
From Legal Newsline: Reach John O'Brien by e-mail at john@legalnewsline.com.