The Miami Dolphins are failing miserably in their efforts to convince the public to fund half of the $400 million proposed upgrades at their stadium. A new poll shows that 73 percent of Miami-Dade resident oppose the idea, with not a single group, not even residents who live near the stadium, supporting the idea. Updated
According to the Miami Herald's Naked Politics, a poll conducted for a private client by a Florida International professor shows that 73 percent of Miamians oppose the plan. It also found that 61 percent say they "strongly" oppose it, while just 12 percent say they merely oppose it. Only 17 percent say they support or strongly support the plan.
Ouch.
"There's not one group of likely voter who supports this idea," Moreno told the paper. "Even in County Commission District 1, where the stadium is, people are overwhelmingly opposed."
Looks like public sentiment over public funds for private sports team's stadiums hasn't changed much since voters recalled former county mayor Carlos Alvarez in part because of his support for the Marlins stadium deal.
Moreno says his poll was conducted with a 1,000-person sample size (especially large for a county wide poll), and targeted likely voters. Of course, there's no note of who was paying for the survey.
"These numbers don't surprise me," County Mayor Carlos Gimenez told the Herald. "The Marlins deal is the elephant in the room. It poisoned any effort like this for any future sports franchise. Before this poll, we didn't even know if we were going to reach an agreement with the Dolphins. Now the path is even tougher."
"A ginned-up poll paid for by a mystery client that goes out of its way to lead people to a negative position is hardly enough to sway us from our efforts to put this issue in front of voters this spring. We believe in the people of Miami Dade County, and trust that the voters can and will see the differences in our project from prior ones.
"The fact that the Dolphins will pay a majority of the costs, and that the rest will be paid by tourists and patrons of the stadium - and never by residents of Miami Dade - along with creating thousands of jobs and millions in economic activity for the people of our community, are powerful facts than this cynical, politically-motivated poll conveniently ignores.
Though, The Herald claims that questions asked in the poll weren't misleading.
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