In the midst of a heated Gubernatorial race, a recent survey shows that Floridians are fed up with political bickering.
"Normally, we think of race and gender and income and religion and sexual preference as being the big dividing lines, but no,” said Dr. Susan MacManus, Political Science Professor at University of South Florida. “This survey shows overwhelmingly, it's politics. It's partisan politics, it's also the distance people see between themselves and elected officials."
The annual “Sunshine State Survey” asked 1,800 state residents what was the biggest divide hampering problem solutions.
- 28 percent said partisan differences
- 17 percent said elected officials versus average citizen differences
- 16 percent said income differences (rich versus poor
Former State Senator and member of the House, Mike Fasano knows all too well about partisan bickering.
"After 20 years, you realize you can barely get anything done in Tallahassee, I served there for almost 20 years," said Fasano, who is now the Pasco County Tax Collector.
Fasano hopes all elected officials listen to what Floridians are saying.
"You need to change, you need to work together to solve the problems," said Fasano.
Floridians listed the most important issues as:
- 30 percent Economy/Jobs/Unemployment
- 12 percent K-12 Education/Public Schools
- 5 percent Crime
Both Gubernatorial candidates, Rick Scott and Charlie Crist have campaign ads focusing on those issues, but many of them are attacking each other.
"If the negativity in message and tone continue in the ads, where one candidate's ad simply cancels out the other, the problem with that is that it could have a very unintended consequence,” said Dr. MacManus. “Meaning, that fewer people will vote."
With weeks to go on the campaign, we’ll see how the voters and the politicians respond.