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The Republican Party of Florida spent half a million dollars to improve the governor’s image. But as Whitney Ray tells us, it isn’t working.

A media blitz of phone calls, internet ads and prewritten letters to the editors of seven Florida newspapers, hasn’t changed the public’s opinion of Governor Rick Scott.

Back in May, Quinnipiac Pollsters put Scott’s job approval rating at 29 percent. The Republican Party of Florida came to the governor’s aid. A financial disclosure form released Tuesday shows the party spent half a million dollars on Scott’s image.

But according to a new poll the efforts aren’t working and in fact, the governor’s slipping. The Sunshine State News is reporting now 27 percent of voters approve of the job Scott’s doing, down two percentage points from May.

At noon Wednesday Scott hadn’t seen the poll.

“I’m going to have to look at, but my job is, I got elected on a very specific platform to get our state back to work,” said Scott.

While his focus remains on jobs, Scott seems more willing to change his stance. This week he killed a plan to bring campgrounds and a RV park to a popular State Park, after hundreds spoke out against the renovations.

“It’s their parks we’ve got to make sure we listen to them,” Scott said.

In Scott’s first media availability since he shook up his inner circle last month, the governor gave the capital press corps nine minutes to ask questions. That’s double the amount of time of most previous media availabilities.

The State Republican party’s efforts to improve Scott’s image continue. The party’s new spokesman Brian Hughes, who last month worked for the governor, released this statement today explaining their public relations strategy.

“The Governor has a great story to tell the voters about turning the state around, five straight months of declining unemployment thanks to 76,000 new jobs, a balanced state budget without raising taxes, property tax cuts for most Florida homeowners and cracking down on pill mills and one of our jobs at the party is to help him tell it. The calls and web ads are a very efficient way to directly keep voters informed about what the Governor and Republican leadership are doing to get our state back to work.”

–Brian Hughes / RPOF Spokesman