The Democratic automated polling firm Public Policy Polling took abuse throughout 2012 from Republicans who complained that they were a biased organization.They didn't say much after the 2012 presidential election, though — not after the North Carolina-based polling firm reported the correct winner in all 9 battleground states, including the unpopular prediction that Barack Obama would oust Mitt Romney in the Sunshine State.
So keep that in mind while hearing Rick Scott's crew badmouth the poll released this morning by PPP that shows Charlie Crist leading Rick Scott in this year's gubernatorial election, 49-42 percent.
"This polling doesn’t pass the common sense test," exclaimed Greg Blair with the Scott re-election team. "A Democratic pollster, working for a Democratic attack group, not only found Charlie Crist winning in Florida, but also claims Republicans are losing noncompetitive races in Kansas and Georgia. Despite the outlandish claims made in this polling, Charlie Crist will continue to be weighed down by the disaster known as Obamacare and his support for the policies of a deeply unpopular president."
And for good measure, Blair asked reporters to forget the firm's 2012 record and examine the one and only contest they've weighed in this year: the CD13 special congressional election where David Jolly defeated Alex Sink by 1.8 percent, despite PPP's call that Sink would win by 3 points.
The only other policy-related question in today's survey was on Medicaid expansion, which both candidates ostensibly support, although in much different ways. Crist never fails to bring it up in during news conferences, while Scott never mentions it — even though he said he did support the concept before the 2012 legislative session began in Tallahassee.
By a 58-33 percent margin, the voters surveyed said they want Medicaid expansion. The results break down mostly along party lines, but with Democrats almost in complete unison on the idea at 81-13 percent. Republicans opposed it 50-37 percent, while independents narrowly support expansion, at 48-45 percent.
The PPP survey on the direct Scott-Crist matches up with the majority of polling that has taken place over the course of the past few months, with Crist consistently up by at least 4-5 points.
That's not the case in every poll, however. On Monday. Scott led Crist 45 percent to 44 percent according to a Voter Survey Service poll commissioned by Sunshine State News.