A new and interesting poll out of the Florida governor’s race suggests how (1) a broad-based, quasi-populist economic message has legs this election season; and (2) how those 2004 exit polls showing the extraordinary power of “moral issues” should be consigned to pollsters’ dustbins. A just-released Mason-Dixon poll finds that only 5 percent of GOP voters were the most concerned about “moral issues” going into the Florida primaries. Many more said they were worried about property insurance rates that have skyrocketed because of hurricanes. As Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling and Research, put it in Monday’s New York Times, “Even the religious conservatives are more concerned about the $2000 homeowners’ insurance hit they just took.”
Message to Tom Frank: Maybe it’s time for a look at what’s doing in Florida?
