Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Bendixen & Amandi latest poll findings … by gimleteye

On the third and final day of poll results, Bendixen & Amandi probe the attitudes of Miami-Dade voters on Kathy Fernandez Rundle and community issues, including the decision by Gov. Rick Scott and his Cabinet in favor of towering high voltage power lines along the US 1 corridor, in order to service two new nuclear reactors at Turkey Point that the Governor and Cabinet also approved.

The public appears largely satisfied with the job the Miami-Dade state attorney is doing. That determination by voters is clearly out of sync with the perspective of most close observers of Miami-Dade politics.

On the issue of the expansion of Florida International University onto lands currently utilized by the Dade County Youth Fair, the results reveal some interesting facts of life in Miami-Dade.

For one, a full 81% of Black voters disapprove the plan. What this shows is that for the poor and disadvantaged, the Dade County Youth Fair is a memorable and important outlet for school children who otherwise have difficulty experiencing life outside their neighborhoods. 81% is a startling number, given that the location of the Youth Fair is far from urban centers where most Black voters live.

Clearly, the Youth Fair serves a very valuable public purpose. It also underscores the point of local park activists, who decry the absence of open park space to serve citizens. The lawyer and lobbyists can afford to drive or fly to the parks they enjoy, but people of modest and limited means have needs too. In far west Miami-Dade County, the Youth Fair is one of the only places that is possible.

There is another fascinating statistic in the question about FIU: 59% of Democrats oppose moving the Youth Fair and 56% of Republicans approve the measure. We have made the argument on EOM that FIU is a Republican enterprise; we note, for example, the presence of big name Republican campaign contributors on its board of directors and the naming of the university sports stadium -- for US Century Bank -- for Republican interests involved in seeding suburban sprawl to the edges of the Everglades. This comparison supports our point of view that FIU -- considered to be an independent institution of higher learning -- largely represents GOP interests.

There is little appetite, apparently, among Miami-Dade voters to support a $25 increase in homeowner taxes to support the county library system. What is interesting, though, is that White Anglos support the measure by 69%, and Hispanic voters oppose it by nearly the same margin (68%). The result affirms a wide divergence of White Anglo sentiment on a host of issues that have the support of polled Hispanic voters.

On one issue, however, Hispanic, Black and White Anglos agree: Governor Rick Scott and the Cabinet made a really bad decision to approve state permitting for two new nuclear reactors and high voltage power lines along US Route ! from Homestead through the City of Miami.

Broken down by political affiliation for the campaigns of Gov. Scott, Charlie Crist, or Independent voters, the difference is significant. 69% of Independent voters oppose the Scott measure, lining up with the 68% of voters who support Charlie Crist. If Crist will seize the initiative, the FPL issue on Turkey Point reactors and high voltage power lines on the US 1 corridor could be a very substantial boost to his campaign.

(To be continued …)

9 comments:

Geniusofdespair said...

Are they polling cell phones? It breaks my heart that people are so stupid and uninformed on the issues. Where do they think the money is coming from for MDC? They abhor taxes but money if it called something else like a bond is okay. I would rather have my taxes raised 3% on my homestead. People hate corruption but support Rundle. I think everyone needs a civics lesson.

Anonymous said...

The Charter School lobby won't teach civics!

Anonymous said...

Clearly, the public is confusing the Feds strong efforts to fight corruption (Robaina, Maroño, Pizzi, etc) with "blind" KFR.

Anonymous said...

If you had school-age kids, you too would favor charter schools.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to throw the baby out with the bathwater but some of these questions are clearly push pull. Totally unscientific.

Miracle in Miami said...

I wish they would publish the entire poll so we can see how they screened respondents. We also need to know how they chose the intial call universe, and how many respondents were on cell phones and responded in English and Spanish.

I have school age kids and they go to some very fine public magnet schools.

I have found that a lot of support among parents for charter schools is because their kids didn't meet the requirements for the top public magnet schools, or struggled academically once they were accepted.

Charter schools also don't have so many "undesirable" elements!

Anonymous said...

400 out of 2.6 million Miami-Dade residents participated.

When each of these lottery winners picked up the phone receiver, did they know how much weight and influence their whims impacted the county's future? This is bullshit.

floridabook said...

"The study found that high levels of corruption in a state can shape its budget allocation. More corrupt states tended to spend money on construction, highways, and police protection programs, which provide more opportunity for corrupt officials to use public money for their own gain. These states spend less on health, education, and welfare, which provide less opportunity for officials to collect bribes, according to Indiana University's John Mikesell, who co-authored the report with Cheol Liu of the University of Hong Kong."

http://www.governing.com/topics/politics/gov-corruption-politics-spending-study.html

Anonymous said...

Fernandez Rundle sucks on so many different levels