"Marco Rubio is probably the most hyped of the 2011 freshman Senate class"

[ajc0918]

http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2010/12/rubios-little-overrated.html

From Public Policy Polling: Marco Rubio is probably the most hyped of the 2011 freshman Senate class, to the extent that there’s already discussion about him as a possible 2012 Presidential candidate. Our latest Florida poll though suggests that it might be time for everyone to slow down a little bit on that front. Rubio is the most hyped new Senator…and he might be the most overrated too. Here’s what we found:
-Rubio is not unusually popular with Florida voters- they’re pretty evenly divided in their feelings about him with 43% rating him favorably and 42% unfavorably. He does have an unusual amount of appeal to Democrats, with 25% viewing him positively. But his 28/52 favorability with independents isn’t a whole lot better than the 25/56 we found for new Governor Rick Scott, who’s pretty universally thought to be highly unpopular.
-When it comes to the 2012 Presidential contest in the state Rubio trails Barack Obama by 8 points, a worse performance than Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Newt Gingrich posted in the poll and better only than Sarah Palin. In fairness to Rubio he’s not the one pushing himself as a 2012 candidate but it does seem safe to say that if he couldn’t pull his own home swing state his chances of winning the other major swing states wouldn’t be too good either.
One thing frequently lost because Rubio’s margin of victory in the Senate race was so impressive is that he still got less than half of the vote in an electorate that skewed heavily toward the GOP. With the Democratic vote splitting nearly evenly between Charlie Crist and Kendrick Meek, Rubio was going to win big pretty much no matter what he did and that didn’t require him to be an unusually appealing candidate. Given where the race started it’s still somewhat amazing and impressive that Rubio’s going into the Senate but folks might want him to serve at least half a Senate term before the White House bid.

HA.

[All life is a blur of Republicans and meat.]

Almost identical favorables among Dems and Indies? It looks like another poll with some issues...

[SvenssonRS]

Looks like someone's still hurting that his neocon buddy Crist didn't get in...

(Disclaimer: Yeah, I know Rubio's not going anywhere near the White House for a long time. So please, don't try to use that against me.)

[Tender Branson]

Their pre-election poll had Rubio's favorables at +10.  Now they're -24.  Something is rotten.

[Invisible Obama]

Overhyped is the word. It should not be forgotten that most of the electorate voted for someone else other than him, so approvals are not going to be over the top for him.

[ajc0918]

Looks like someone's still hurting that his neocon buddy Crist didn't get in...

Duhh?

[Sewer]

Looks like someone's still hurting that his neocon buddy Crist didn't get in...

Rubio is so antiwar

[Senator Napoleon]

Crist did remind me a lot of Lieberman, phony Independent POS who deserved to lose. Democrats should be ashamed for not letting Meek getting his due justice, even if he would have likely lost in the end.

[All life is a blur of Republicans and meat.]

Crist has absolutely nothing to do with neoconservatism.

[redcommander]

Looks like someone's still hurting that his neocon buddy Crist didn't get in...

Duhh?

Oh please Crist is a POS with no political principles. He lost for a reason, Americans like politicians to stick with their parties and not try to play moderate hero all the time, hence why Liberman's numbers are in the toilet. Spector and him lost their races for a good reason.

[Dgov]

A -31 Approval rating with Florida Independents?  The Same group he outright won in 2010?  Yeah, something doesn't feel right with this poll.

[Χahar]

Crist did remind me a lot of Lieberman, phony Independent POS who deserved to lose. Democrats should be ashamed for not letting Meek getting his due justice, even if he would have likely lost in the end.

If it were someone else, I would agree, but we're talking about Kendrick Meek here. He's a nepotist who had until 2010 never had a contested election.

[So the Heroes Fall]

Crist is the exact opposite of a neocon, he is a former conservative Republican that drifted left. And it's tough to judge a Governor's views on foreign policy.

[Torie]

Did Rubio get caught doing a dead boy or something since the election?

[ajc0918]

A -31 Approval rating with Florida Independents?  The Same group he outright won in 2010?  Yeah, something doesn't feel right with this poll.

Well Crist won 34% of independents, so assuming those 34% plus whatever percentage Meek got disapprove of Rubio then it's possible. Rubio won 48% of independents.

[SvenssonRS]

Crist is the exact opposite of a neocon, he is a former conservative Republican that drifted left. And it's tough to judge a Governor's views on foreign policy.

Doesn't change the fact that, at least if I recall correctly, he was seriously floated as a possible running mate for John McCain - one of the most shameless neocons alive.

[Senator Kalwejt]

I wonder, does Crist have any future?

[Senator Kalwejt]

Crist is the exact opposite of a neocon, he is a former conservative Republican that drifted left. And it's tough to judge a Governor's views on foreign policy.

Doesn't change the fact that, at least if I recall correctly, he was seriously floated as a possible running mate for John McCain - one of the most shameless neocons alive.

Hey, hey, wasn't Mark Hatfield seriously floated as Nixon running-mate? Zomgz, that makes Hatfield a Nixonian!

Not comparing the two, o/c, but this is utterly stupid argument, when you're lacking any real argument.

[So the Heroes Fall]

Crist is the exact opposite of a neocon, he is a former conservative Republican that drifted left. And it's tough to judge a Governor's views on foreign policy.

Doesn't change the fact that, at least if I recall correctly, he was seriously floated as a possible running mate for John McCain - one of the most shameless neocons alive.

Hey, hey, wasn't Mark Hatfield seriously floated as Nixon running-mate? Zomgz, that makes Hatfield a Nixonian!

Not comparing the two, o/c, but this is utterly stupid argument, when you're lacking any real argument.

Furthermore McCain is not a neocon. If you're going to define the term as "anyone who supports an imperialist foreign policy" there is nothing "neo" about it, was Genghis Kahn a neocon?

Also John Nance Garner was FDR's first running mate. One would have a tough time arguing that Garner, a hardcore isolationist Blue Dog had much in common with FDR. Is Sarah Palin a neocon for that matter?

[Torie]

I wonder, does Crist have any future?

No, except maybe in the Obama administration.

[Invisible Obama]

When Bill Young retires, FL-10 will have Charlie Crist's name on it. He's likable enough to win it as an independent.

[SvenssonRS]

Crist is the exact opposite of a neocon, he is a former conservative Republican that drifted left. And it's tough to judge a Governor's views on foreign policy.

Doesn't change the fact that, at least if I recall correctly, he was seriously floated as a possible running mate for John McCain - one of the most shameless neocons alive.

Hey, hey, wasn't Mark Hatfield seriously floated as Nixon running-mate? Zomgz, that makes Hatfield a Nixonian!

Not comparing the two, o/c, but this is utterly stupid argument, when you're lacking any real argument.

Furthermore McCain is not a neocon. If you're going to define the term as "anyone who supports an imperialist foreign policy" there is nothing "neo" about it, was Genghis Kahn a neocon?

Also John Nance Garner was FDR's first running mate. One would have a tough time arguing that Garner, a hardcore isolationist Blue Dog had much in common with FDR. Is Sarah Palin a neocon for that matter?

Was, or was not, George W. Bush a neocon?

[So the Heroes Fall]

No, he wasn't. Honestly the thought of George W. Bush as a member of any intellectual movement is beyond amusing. Neocons did have massive influence in his administration though, that being the problem. But Bush himself never signed on as a member of Project for a New American Century, nor did ever do any serious research into the writings of Strauss and Kristol.

[ajc0918]

When Bill Young retires, FL-10 will have Charlie Crist's name on it. He's likable enough to win it as an independent.

That or mayor of St. Petersburg (where he lives), a "non partisan" race.

[Nichlemn]

When Bill Young retires, FL-10 will have Charlie Crist's name on it. He's likable enough to win it as an independent.

This reminds me, has anyone broken down this race's results by Congressional district? I'd be interested in it.