| Rick Scott. |
Need more proof that spending dump trucks full of cash can win elections in America? Take a look at Florida’s percolating governor’s race, where Rick Scott — yes, the same guy who has had trouble cracking 30 percent approval ratings for the past four years — has suddenly pulled even with likely challenger Charlie Crist in several new polls.
What’s changed? Has Scott suddenly started embracing issues important to voters like medical marijuana reform and green energy? Nah, he’s just spending crazy amounts of money — more than $13 million on TV ads just since November. And it’s working like a charm.
The latest survey from Public Policy Polling this week found the governor’s race is now a toss-up, with a 42 percent tie between Scott and Crist.
Amazingly, that result comes despite the fact that PPP found Scott is still wildly unpopular as a governor, with just a 39 percent approval rating.
How can this be? Simple: Scott has been carpet-bombing key markets like Tampa, Orlando, and West Palm with so many ads blasting Crist that an average viewer will have seen 100 of them in 2014, the Tampa Bay Times reports. And those ads have left voters equally skeptical of Crist, who clocks in PPP’s polls with just a 32 percent favorable rating.
Check out more over at the Miami New Times.
