In addition to the public polls touted by the news media, politicians have pollsters taking the public's pulse for their own internal campaign purposes. Usually when those internal polls get leaked to the press it's because they're more favorable to the candidate than the independent media polls.
Well, Politico got its hands on an internal poll from Rick Scott's campaign, and it shows Scott trailing Charlie Crist by four points 49 to 45.
Granted, that is actually better than what the media and academic polls are showing. A poll from mid-November showed Crist leading by 10 points. Another from October had Crist up by 12.
So, at the very least it shows that Scott is at least competitive with Crist, and that's probably why you're reading about it now. Scott's campaign can use it as evidence to potential donors that his campaign isn't such a risky bet like other polls might have them believe.
The poll was taken by Tony Fabrizio, Scott's paid pollster from Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates, and was conducted from November 24 to 26. It comes with 3.1 percent margin of error.
The poll also asked which candidate would be better able to handle better issues. Here's the results:
The incumbent governor has the advantage on six: controlling state spending (+14), reducing taxes (+12), balancing the state budget (+9), turning Florida's economy around (+5), standing up to Tallahassee insiders (+3) and creating jobs (+2).Crist has a single-digit advantage on four measures: cares about people like me (+8), is the most honest and ethical (+4), "someone I trust to be governor" (+3) and "shares my beliefs and values" (+2).
Clearly Scott's campaign is trying to ferret out issues to emphasize in which he has an advantage over Crist.
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