Jeb Bush's bid for Senate could clear GOP field
By BRENDAN FARRINGTON
Associated Press
December 4, 2008
Page 2 of 2
But the former governor has remained popular in Florida even as his brother's approval ratings declined.
A Quinnipiac University poll taken December 2006 during Jeb Bush's final month in office found 57 percent of Florida voters thought Bush was a great or good governor. Only 10 percent said he was a bad governor. That poll also showed 59 percent of voters disapproved of the job President Bush was doing, compared with 38 percent who approved.
"Florida voters have always been able to distinguish between Jeb Bush and George Bush. It's that simple. They thought he was a good governor, they thought his brother was a lousy president," said Peter Brown, assistant director of Quinnipiac's polling institute. "The things that made president Bush unpopular were not things that Gov. Bush had to deal with -- the national economy and the war."
The former governor has spent much of his time since leaving office promoting education policy as the founder and president of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. As governor, he put a strong emphasis on standardized testing to keep teachers and schools accountable and passed a voucher program that allowed students in failing public schools to attend provide schools at taxpayer expense. That program was later ruled unconstitutional.
While President-elect Barack Obama won Florida, the state's politics are more purple than red or blue. In 2006, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist won by a large margin, as did Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, and Florida Republicans continued their control of the state Legislature after last month's election.
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Associated Press writer Jennifer Loven in Washington contributed to this report.
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