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As Crist’s Lead Over Scott Erodes, Libertarian Adrian Wyllie Throws X-Factor Into Race

July 23, 2014 | FlaglerLive | 7 Comments

Who is this guy? Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Adrian Wyllie and his children,  in an image from his campaign website. He may want to think about wearing a different shirt in campaign materials.
Who is this guy? Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Adrian Wyllie and his children, in an image from his campaign website. He may want to think about wearing a different shirt in campaign materials.

There are three Republicans, two Democrats, one Libertarian, three independents and nine write-in candidates running for governor of Florida–18 candidates in all. Until a few weeks ago, only two candidates could be considered serious contenders: incumbent Gov. Rick Scott, and Democratic challenger Charlie Crist. Both are expected to handily defeat their primary opponents: Nan Rich for Crist, Yinka Adeshina and Elizabeth Cuevas-Neunder for Scott.

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Head to head, Crist had been leading Scott almost comfortably in Quinnipiac poll after poll even before Crist had declared for the job, not long after his final conversion from Republican to Independent to Democrat. Last year around this time Crist led Scott by 10 points, 47-37. The lead was down to seven points in November, up to eight points in January, and back up to 10 points in late April.

The latest Quinnipiac poll, released this morning, paints a changing picture. Scott still trails Crist, but by only five points, 45 to 40 percent. That’s in a two-way race. It’s not going to be a two-way race come November. When Libertarian Adrian Wyllie is thrown in the mix, it’s a mere two-point advantage for Crist, 39-37, which is within the margin of error, with Wyllie taking a substantial 9 percent. Wyllie won’t win in November. But his presence on the ballot almost certainly will influence the result far more than lesser-known or virtually irrelevant write-ins, and it appears that it will help Scott more than it will help Crist. Wyllie is co-founder of the 1787 Radio Network, which calls itself “Florida’s Voice of Liberty,” and President of an IT consulting firm called White Hat Info Tech Corporation.

The reason behind Crist’s eroding numbers: Crist had drawn a substantial part of his support from independents, the crucial voting bloc that decides many statewide elections in Florida. That bloc is shifting somewhat to Wyllie. In a two-way race with Scott, Crist still takes independents 45-38, but in a three-way race, it’s 36 percent for Crist, 34 percent for Scott, and 12 percent for Wyllie. Republicans back Scott 74-9 percent in a three-way race, with 5 percent for Wyllie, while Democrats back Crist 73-9 percent, with 6 percent for Wyllie.

When it comes to favorability, Scott, who’s put great emphasis on portraying himself as a tender grandfather, showing off his grandchildren on his Facebook page and featuring one of them prominently in a campaign ad, is still in negative territory. It’s generally been difficult for a candidate to win the governorship with negative approval ratings. Scott gets 43 percent approval (a significant improvement from his low point of 29 two years ago), against 48 percent disapproval. Crist, however, who’s always made his likability his running mate (Annette Taddeo notwithstanding) fares worse in approval, at 40 percent, with 42 percent disapproving.

But 92 percent of respondents said they did not know enough about him to form an opinion. The remaining percentage tracks closely with the actual support that the libertarian does garner.


“Virtually no one knows much about Wyllie, but there are a lot of Floridians who aren’t keen on either of the major party candidates, Gov. Rick Scott or former Gov. Charlie Christ,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

Worse news for Scott: 51 percent of respondents say he does not deserve to be reelected, with just 40 percent saying he does. By the same margins, 51 percent of Floridians consider Scott dishonest and not trustworthy. Crist doesn’t fare much better: 48 percent consider him dishonest and not trustworthy, with Republicans adding weight to those categories as most have not forgiven his conversion. While 52 percent of Floridians say Scott doesn’t care about them (to Crist’s 47 percent), the governor still gets better marks for strong leadership qualities, at 54 percent, to Crist’s 49 percent. Crist also wins on the compassion score.

“Scott and Crist have been saturating the airwaves with negative ads about each other,” Brown said. “An old campaign maxim holds that you can’t throw mud without getting dirty yourself and that seems to be what’s happening here. Because Wyllie is so unknown and presumably unable to compete in the air war at this point, how he does may be a function of how unhappy voters are with the major party choices.”

In other poll findings, the Florida Legislature got a 36 percent approval rating, against 48 percent disapproval. Asked whether they are satisfied with the direction of the state, 55 percent of respondents said they were very or somewhat satisfied, against 45 percent somewhat or very dissatisfied. And 65 percent of respondents said that their opinion of Barack Obama does not factor into their vote for governor.

Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,251 registered voters from July 17 to 21. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. rst says

    July 23, 2014 at 1:35 pm

    1 point 100 points; still the same results: Scott loses, goes’ home, fades away.

    Reply
    • Well Done says

      July 23, 2014 at 6:42 pm

      In your dreams Charlie !!!!

      Reply
  2. atiboy15 says

    July 23, 2014 at 7:44 pm

    Wyllie’s name will now be out there for all Florida voters to see and they are going to like what they see.
    Wyllie will count on the continued mudslinging between Crist and Scott and will swoop in to take the Governorship. This is history in the making and Wyllie is one clever cat!

    Reply
    • Jamie Abbott says

      July 23, 2014 at 10:58 pm

      I like the way you think

      Reply
  3. Rick Adams says

    July 23, 2014 at 8:19 pm

    If only Crist and Scott would quit stealing Adrian Wyllie’s votes!

    https://www.facebook.com/WyllieForGovernor

    Reply
  4. William Dail says

    July 24, 2014 at 6:10 am

    I don’t know how this article thinks it can predict Wyllie not winning in November? He has been invited to the debates. He will slaughter Crist & question dodging Scott in those debates! He has a 9% poll rating and has to make it to 15% to keep his invite for those debates. He is well on track to do so! Catch his interviews on Youtbe! Wyllie answers questions no holds barred! Scott & Crist will be script reading. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=adrian+wyllie

    Reply
  5. Anonymous says

    July 24, 2014 at 5:12 pm

    Why is it that it seems only in close elections is it that some unknown come in and plays spoiler to the Rs and not the Ds. Libertarians should work within the R party. Maybe they could become the dominant force within the Rs like the extremes socialists have overrun the Ds

    Reply

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