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Florida poll: Obama, Democrats to pay political price for healthcare reform
BY MARC CAPUTO
mcaputo@miamiherald.com
TALLAHASSEE — Florida voters dislike the new health reform law so much that President Obama and the state’s top Democrat, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, are paying a hefty political price, according to a new survey and analysis by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research.

Only 34 percent of Florida voters support the new law while 54 percent are opposed — well outside of the 4 percent error-margin for the poll of 625 registered voters.

Opposition is even stronger among two crucial voting blocs in Florida: voters older than 65 and voters with no party affiliation. Seniors disfavor the bill by a 65-25 percent margin, while independent voters oppose the law 62-34.

The poll also shows that, by a 15 percentage-point margin, more Floridians have a more negative than positive view of Obama. And they oppose his so-called cap-and-trade global warming legislation as well as the new healthcare law.

The ``eye-popping’’ numbers in the poll were mainly dealing with health care, seniors and Sen. Nelson, Mason-Dixon pollster Brad Coker said. He said elder voters were once a reliable base of support for Sen. Nelson, but no more.

``The only saving grace for Bill Nelson is that his election is in 2012 and some of the anger might die down by then,’’ Coker said. ``But he probably can’t escape the damage completely.’’

The percentage of voters who have an unfavorable opinion of Nelson — 34 percent — is almost even with those with a favorable view of him. Since his 2006 re-election, Nelson’s popularity has nose-dived 18 percentage points, the poll shows.

Because Florida is such a crucial swing state with so many seniors, Nelson’s troubles are a shot across the bow for Democrats everywhere, Coker said. The poll shows Nelson would lose to Republicans in theoretical match-ups against former Gov. Jeb Bush, Gov. Charlie Crist and his current U.S. Senate opponent Marco Rubio.

``If Bill Nelson’s getting hurt by this, you can imagine what damage there is to other Democrats across the country,’’ Coker said.