Floridians aren't so warm about giving more rights and assistance to undocumented immigrants. That's just one of the findings coming out of the last published survey of the 2014 Sunshine State Survey, an annual poll on a range of economic, social and political issues compiled by the University of South Florida’s College of Arts & Sciences and Nielsen Co. For the past month USF Political Science professor Dr. Susan MacManus has hosted a weekly conference call reviewing the data produced by the exhaustive study. Tuesday's release focused on questions on some of the hottest topics, such as legalizing same-sex marriage, offshore drilling, medicinal marijuana and high-speed rail.
58 percent said it was going in the wrong direction to give more rights and assistance to undocumented immigrants, with only 22 percent of those surveyed saying it was going in the right direction. Perhaps not surprisingly, those numbers changed dramatically based on race, with 71 percent of whites agreeing that it was wrong to provide aide to such immigrants. But 40 percent of blacks and 29 percent of Latinos said it was going in the right direction to pursue such policies. The Florida Legislature this year passed a bill allowing undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates to all Florida universities.
On legalizing same-sex marriage, 40 percent say it's the right thing to do, 31 percent saying it's the wrong thing, and 29 percent undecided.
Perhaps the biggest surprise in what has been derisively dubbed the "Gunshine State" is the question on guns. Fifty-five percent say it's in the right direction to pass stricter gun laws, while only 34 percent say that's the wrong way to go. Eleven percent were undecided. Blacks and women made up the biggest group of supporters wanting more gun regulations (83 percent of African-Americans, 63 percent of women). However, by a 41-33 percent margin, people said repealing the controversial Stand Your Ground law would be moving the state in the wrong direction.
Democrats running for state office this fall have hammered home their support for Medicaid expansion, an idea that every poll in Florida has shown having majority support, despite House Republicans' consistent resistance to the idea. Forty-nine percent say that's the right way to go, 28 percent say it's the wrong way, and 23 percent were undecided.
However, House (and Senate) Republicans in Florida are with the public when it comes to promoting more school vouchers, with 56 percent supporting them, 21 percent opposing, and 23 percent undecided.
Although editorial writers and environmentalists write and talk often about growth management laws, the survey shows a whole lot of Floridians don't know what they're talking about. Forty-three percent said they had no idea when asked if passing stricter growth management regulations was a good thing or bad thing (for the record, 39 percent said it was in the right direction to pursue such policies, 18 percent said it wasn't).
And nearly a third (31 percent) of those surveyed said they didn't have an opinion on implementing the federal Common Core standards in Florida schools. Of those who were familiar, 42 percent said it was the right thing, 28 percent said it was the wrong way for the Sunshine State to go.
High-speed rail is considered to be a good part of Florida's future, as 58 percent said they approved, with 24 percent saying it's the wrong thing to do. A mostly private enterprise called All Aboard Florida is currently working to provide passenger rail service between Miami and Orlando.
The survey also asked about how Floridians consume their media. Even with all of the changes in the media landscape, the top choice continues to be local television news. Twenty-nine percent said that's where they went for most of their news. 24 percent ranked cable news, 13 percent said network news, 11 percent said online sources, just 9 percent said old fashioned newspapers, 5 percent said online papers, 4 percent said radio, 2 percent said social media, 1 percent said their friends, and 2 percent did not answer the question.
The results of this survey are based on 1,875 telephone interviews conducted July 30, 2014 through August 15, 2014 with a random sample of adults, aged 18 and older, residing in State of Florida households.