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Poll: Gov. Scott handled Hurricane Irma well

A boost after he faced criticism from South Florida nursing home deaths.
 
Published Oct. 25, 2017|Updated Oct. 25, 2017

Florida voters think Gov. Rick Scott did a solid job handling Hurricane Irma, according to a Mason-Dixon poll released Wednesday morning.

Statewide, 35 of voters percent rated Scott's performance as "excellent", while 31 percent rated it "good", 25 percent said it was "fair", only 4 percent felt it was "poor" and 5 percent were not sure, the poll showed.

Scott soared among Republicans, with 89 percent rating his performance as excellent or good, compared with 49 percent of Democrats and 62 percent of independents giving the same marks.

Democrats have seized on the death of 14 residents of a Hollywood nursing home and called Scott's leadership into question. Leading the charge has been Scott's likely 2018 rival, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.

There have also been complaints about slow debris removal and FEMA.

But the overall positive remarks are a plus for Republican Scott, who just received favorable news with a poll showing he and Nelson in a virtual tie, though a good number of voters are undecided.

Irma was tough but not nearly as bad as expected and Floridians may not take the next storm as serious, the poll shows.

Statewide, only 57 percent say that they will follow an evacuation order in the face of a hurricane similar in strength to Irma.

The poll was conducted Oct. 17-19 and included 625 registered voters, interviewed by telephone. The margin of error is ± 4 percentage points.