Poll Shows Gov. Bush's Popularity Drops Amid Malpractice Fight

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/florida/MGAPMX030JD.html


Poll Shows Gov. Bush's Popularity Drops Amid Malpractice Fight
The Associated Press
Published: Aug 5, 2003

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Gov. Jeb Bush's approval rating has dropped as he spars with state lawmakers over efforts to reduce the cost of doctors' medical malpractice insurance, a poll shows. While the Republican governor remains popular, with 54 percent of respondents rating his job performance as excellent or good, those figures represent an eight point drop since last year, according to a poll released by Maryland-based Mason-Dixon Political Research Inc.

Bush got a grade of fair from 23 percent, while 23 percent said his performance is poor - up from 12 percent last year.

The poll, released Monday, was conducted July 29-31 for several Florida newspapers and broadcasters, interviewing 625 registered voters who said they vote regularly. The margin of error is plus or minus four percentage points.

The Republican-led Legislature fared worse than Bush, after stumbling through two special sessions where members failed to pass a malpractice bill. Only 2 percent of the respondents rated lawmakers' performance as excellent; 23 percent said good; 39 percent said fair; 27 percent said poor; and 9 percent were undecided.

Bush, backed by the state House, has pushed for months for a strict limit on how much victims of malpractice can win in noneconomic damages, such as compensation for pain and suffering.


...snip

the more the Governor of Florida and the Republican Led legislature look bad the better it will help Democrats in '04

the whole legislative session (sessions) has been a huge farce

A couple of years ago our profession had to fight a political battle. We approached a well-known lobbyist, an ex-politician, who happened to be a friend of one of our members. He didn't even care on the merits of our issue, his first question was : "How much money y'all got?"

I am particularly fond of the state and hate seeing what has happened to it.. I am one of the odd ones, probably.. I absolutely love Miami..
I hung out at South Beach when all the old hotels were still boarded up and it was a seedy part of town.. Kids went there because there was not a lot of "supervision ".. :evilgrin:

It's such a pretty state and has so much promise, if only............

This malpractice issue is very complicated. Think about it: There are insurance companies, personal injury attorneys, doctors and politicians fighting it out.

Special interests groups OWN Tallahassee, the general public is at their mercy. Its a mess. To be honest, with term limits things are even messier, because there are no coalitions of power that can be formed, and special interests groups wield even more influence.


ON EDIT: Oh yeah, my point is: I dont know if this tangled issue is hurting JEB or not. I think people are just Bushed -out in general, with his brother lying,etc.

.

This is very relevant. If Shrub Jr. is unpopular in Florida by election time Florida voters may decide to take out their hostility on his big brother at the polls.

:kick:

:evilgrin:

Would love to see Florida go early in the 2004 general election to the Democrats.

Only this time STAY in the DEM column-LOL!

Could this help Democrats in legislative races in 2004?

This is mainly a state-wide issue. A strong Democratic candidate will help national elections for Dems.

I am talking about local races.

the GOP has cornered the market on the malpractice issue-both sides! The Senate GOPers are standing up to JEB. If that continues (unlikely), they could be hurt. But otherwise its such a mess, its hard to tell.
My experience has been the (D) or (R) don't make much difference in our local elections.

Among our local officials.

Honestly, many might as well be Pugs.

Perhaps a shot at a couple of Congressional seats IF Florida is in play.

So whether or not his polls are up or down...
there are no checks and balances in voting.