Crist sees spike in approval as he leaves office

Crist Ends with Best Approval Numbers
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist didn't have the best year -- going from an "unbeatable" U.S. Senate Candidate to losing the election after being forced from the Republican party -- but a new Public Policy Polling survey finds him finishing up his term as Governor with a 50% Approval Rating, his highest all year. ...

Shaheen down, Gregg up on Senate approval scale
Public Policy Polling shows Republican U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg will finish on a high note of popularity, while Democratic colleague Jeanne Shaheen is finishing her second year in Washington with less than favorable numbers. PPP said it polled the Approval Ratings of 59 senators, including the two from the Granite State. The average GOP Senator has a 43 percent approval and 37 percent Disapproval spread, according to PPP, while the average Democrats comes down at 44 percent approval and 41 percent d...

FL-Sen: Nelson Leads All, Except Jeb
Public Policy Polling (12/17-20, Florida voters): Bill Nelson (D-inc): 47 George Lemieux (R): 36 Bill Nelson (D-inc): 44 Jeb Bush (R): 49 Bill Nelson (D-inc): 44 Mike Haridopolos (R): 32 Bill Nelson (D-inc): 46 Adam Hasner (R): 30 Bill Nelson (D-inc): 44 Connie Mack IV (R): 36 (MoE: ±3%) This poll's been out there for a little while now, but with SSP Headline News enjoying an extended Vacation from the blogosphere, I called the boys down at SSP Reclamation Services & Towing to dra...

Crist's Future
There hasn't been a lot of good news for Charlie Crist this year but as he prepares to leave office here's a little piece of it: he's actually finishing up with the best approval numbers PPP has found for him all year. 50% of voters approve of the job he's doing to 39% who disapprove. Starting in March his approval numbers in five previous PPP polls this year were 35%, 44%, 42%, 47%, and 41%. Crist has stratospheric numbers with Independents at 70% approving of him to only 26% disapproving. Th...

Americans Don't Mind Their Senators
Public Policy Polling is out with a treasure trove of public approval-disapproval Ratings of senators in the second half of 2010, and finds that the average Approval Rating for a senator is 43% approving to 40% disapproving. "That suggests the old adage that voters hate Congress but love their Congressman holds true...to an extent...maybe hate Congress but don't mind their Congressman is a better way of putting it. At any rate 37 Senators had positive approval numbers in our most recent polls w...

Crist leaving office after political blunders
Tallahassee, Fla. | Outgoing Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will linger in some short-term memories for his failed independent Senate run and his pardon of dead rock star Jim Morrison. People thinking longer term will recall a Governor who persuaded Republicans and Democrats to work together but blundered away his potential for success at the national level. Mr. Crist, who leaves office Tuesday, enjoyed widespread popularity for much of his term. He built a reputation as a national leader on climat...

Jeb Bush U.S. Senate? Florida Republicans Favor The Ex-Governor
Democrat Senator Bill Nelson is up for re-election in 2012, he’s a fairly popular democrat so who will mount the challenge? Florida Republicans overwhelmingly support a guy named Bush. Jeb Bush U.S. Senate? It could happen. A liberal polling firm, Public Policy Polling, found that 72% of Florida Republicans backed Bush if he were to enter the race. The next closest competitor only garnered 6% support among GOP faithful. So that begs the question. Could Jeb Bush win an election of national in...

Getting Below the Surface
We of course know that the November 2, 2010, Elections were historical on many different levels. The Republican gains of 63 seats in the House and 6 in the Senate dwarf the Republican Revolution of 1994 and double the historical average gains in the Senate for a party out of power. These gains were made despite a cash-strapped Republican National Committee (RNC), strategic decisions by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) to spend $8 million in the long-shot California Senate race...

Scarcelli: Snowe challenge may depend on primary
Maine Democrat Rosa Scarcelli suggested that a decision to challenge Sen. Olympia Snowe in 2012 could hinge on whether the three-term Republican is forced to fend off a primary challenge. Scarcelli, the CEO of an Affordable Housing agency who ran for the Democratic nomination for Governor in 2010, is widely seen as a rising star in her party and says she's very interested in running for public office again. But the 41-year-old also bills herself as a non-partisan pragmatist who stresses she wo...

Klobuchar among most popular senators
Sen. Amy Klobuchar is the most popular U.S. senator, according to surveys by Public Policy Polling. The pollster looked at the Approval Ratings of 59 senators over the past several months and found Klobuchar with a net favorable rating of 30 percent, well above the second most favorable, Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who scored 24 percent. Klobuchar, who is up for re-election in 2012, had an approval rating of 59 percent compared to 29 percent of Minnesota voters who said they disapproved ...

Gingrich, Palin have no shot at being GOP presidential nominee
Bill Kristol, the Fox News analyst and Weekly Standard editor, made a couple of predictions on Fox News Sunday about the GOP presidential race: “Can I go out on a limb, since everyone else is scared to say — actually make any predictions. I predict Palin will not run. I have no knowledge at all; I just have the hunch that she ultimately will not run. I think Newt Gingrich is underestimated. Newt is going to run and Newt will be formidable. People can talk about the baggage, but lot...

Chris Dodd Cleared by Ethics Committee
(Credit: CBS) The Senate Ethics Committee has dismissed allegations of Corruption against retiring Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Ct.). The committee's chief counsel sent a letter to the conservative government Watchdog group Judicial Watch, informing the group that the committee was dropping its complaint that Dodd allegedly engaged in a quid pro quo deal. The Bipartisan committee found there was "not sufficient credible evidence of improper conduct or violation" to warrant further action on the matter...

Grand Jury: Lawmakers Should Repeal 'Corruption Tax'
Florida ethics officials need more authority to investigate and more power to punish public officials and others for what amounts to a “Florida Corruption tax” that is eroding public trust and stealing Taxpayers’ money, a statewide Grand Jury said Wednesday. More than a year after being asked by Gov. Charlie Crist to investigate a “culture of corruption” in Florida, the Grand Jury submitted findings to the Florida Supreme Court, essentially agreeing with Crist. Exis...

Californias new primary system will eliminate Republican candidates from ballot
W hen the founders considered the form of government that would replace the English monarchy, two examples of representative government led the lists: Democracy and Republicanism. Reasoning that a representative republic led by informed citizens with a stake in the nation’s well being would be more stable than a direct Democracy subject to volatile emotions of a public fired up over the issue du jour, they opted for the republican form of government. California, in its state constitution, ...

Klobuchar most popular '12er
-- AP Photo Minnesota's Amy Klobuchar is the most popular senator facing Reelection in 2012, according to a new survey released by Public Policy Polling. The former Hennepin County attorney clocks in with a sparkling 59 percent Approval Rating, giving her a 30-point spread over her unfavorable number. Third-term Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe posts the highest approval rating among Republicans, earning the nod of 56 percent of voters. Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, also up for Reelection in two ye...

The early line on 2012
I think Nate Silver's round-up of Barack Obama's Reelection prospects is pretty good. The conclusion sounds right -- that Obama is in reasonably good shape, but that it's a mistake to extrapolate from 1982 and 1994 and conclude that just because Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton followed up midterm debacles with landslides, Obama is sure to do so. He's right to focus on The Economy as the biggest factor in a president's Reelection chances -- and I think the evidence is stronger than Silver belie...

Rush of Appointments as Crist Prepares to Leave
In the dying days of his term, Gov. Charlie Crist has made a number of key appointments that will shape the future of the Sunshine State for years to come -- in fact, 14 already this week. With Rich Nugent headed to the U.S. Congress to take the place of retiring U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, Crist announced Tuesday that Veteran law enforcer Al Nienhuis will serve as Hernando County Sheriff until Jan. 7, 2013. “Al’s 15 years as a dedicated Law Enforcement officer have given him the e...

Voting time for first poll of 2011
As mentioned earlier this week Nevada will be one of our first two polls of 2011 and we're letting you vote on the other one. Here are the finalists: -Arizona. After Nevada and Massachusetts this is probably the best of the limited pick up opportunities for Democrats on the Senate front and it's also along with Missouri and Montana one of the few states Barack Obama could conceivably flip to blue in 2012 although I imagine it's one of the places where only the GOP nominating Sarah Palin would m...

Christine O'Donnell: 'Thug' Tactics Responsible For Campaign Finance Accusations
Baltimore — Failed U.S. Senate Candidate Christine O'Donnell said Thursday that accusations she misspent campaign funds are politically motivated and stoked by disgruntled former campaign workers. The Delaware Republican appeared on several network morning shows to defend herself a day after The Associated Press reported federal authorities have launched a Criminal Probe to determine whether she broke the law by using campaign money to pay personal expenses. "There's been no impermissibl...

Poll: Obama approval rating holds steady
PRINCETON, N.J., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Nearly the same number of respondents approve of the job President Barack Obama is doing as disapprove, a Gallup Poll released Thursday indicated. Obama's latest job Approval Rating is 47 percent, down slightly from the 49 percent recorded last week, Gallup said. Forty-six percent of Americans asked said they disapprove of Obama's job performance. Obama's Approval Rating has been stable since the Nov. 2 Midterm Elections in which the Democratic party lost its ma...

2012 Poll: Obama Surges While Sarah Palin Slides
President Barack Obama is solidifying support among Democrats for their 2012 nomination, even as Sarah Palin is losing ground to other Republican Candidates, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released on Tuesday. CNN reports on the results: In the battle for the GOP presidential nomination, the survey suggests Palin may have some work to do if she throws her hat in the ring. Only 49 percent of Republicans say that they are likely to support Sen. John McCain's Running Mate ...

Sarah Palin takes a beating in Alaska: poll
This one has got to hit really close to home. Only 33% of Alaskans have a favorable opinion of Sarah Palin, while the majority are icy about their former half-term GOP Governor. The bulk -- 58% -- have a negative opinion about Palin, according to a new poll by Public Policy Polling. Less than a year ago, PPP found that 47% of Alaskans viewed Palin favorably, compared with 45% unfavorably.    Of the 10 states that PPP surveyed this fall, only blue Massachussetts gave her a higher unfavorabil

Pollster Reveal: Few Candidates Saw Deficit Reduction As A Major Issue
New Haven -- It is expected as a fait accompli that President Obama, both in his upcoming State of the Union address and during his next year or two in office, will focus his energy and efforts on Deficit reduction. The administration has already announced a forthcoming freeze in both Discretionary Spending and federal worker salaries. And with a more heavily GOP-tilted legislative branch in the offing, this topic appears to be the best (and perhaps only) hope for a governing consensus. Ther...

Palins Popularity Plummets with AK Voters
The Hill reports: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s popularity is slipping in her home state, according to a poll released Tuesday. The survey from Democratic pollster Public Policy Polling (PPP) showed only 33 percent of Alaska voters have a favorable opinion of the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, while 58 percent have a negative one. Out of 10 states where PPP polled the metric, only blue Massachusetts gave Palin a more negative rating (27-68 percent). Alaska Republicans rate Palin ...

Gingrich, Palin lead in North Carolina
A new Public Policy Polling survey (pdf) shows Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin deadlocked in a 2012 North Carolina primary (there's a fascinating P.S. to this one, too). 1. Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich 21% 3. Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee 18% 5. Mike Huckabee 18% 6. Ron Paul 7% 7. Tim Pawlenty 3% 8. John Thune and Mitch Daniels 1% Favorability Ratings: a. Mike Huckabee 71%/16% for +55%. b. Sarah Palin 67%/25% for +42%. c. Newt Gingrich 61...