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Four weeks on the job and only 35 percent of Floridians approve of Governor Rick Scott’s performance. 22 percent disapprove and 43 say they don’t have enough information about the newcomer to decide. As Whitney Ray tells us, despite the low job approval ratings most Floridians are optimistic about the next four years.

Governor Rick Scott’s job approval rating was low as he spoke to a group of wounded veterans Wednesday, but you wouldn’t know it by the smile on the newcomer’s face.

Only 36 percent of Floridians think Scott is doing a good job, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. The low number is likely a symptom of his newcomer status because 43 percent of the voters polled said they didn’t have enough information to judge his performance. Scott’s doesn’t seem concerned.

Scott: I haven’t seen it
Reporter: Do you plan to look at it?
Scott: I don’t know.

Voters were asked 28 questions mostly about the governor’s plans to cut spending and layoff state workers.
46 percent say layoffs are a bad idea. But two out of three like Scott’s plan to make government employees contribute to their retirement. More than half like the fact that Scott cut his salary to one dollar but only one in four thinks he can fulfill his campaign promises.
They include creating 700-thousand jobs, cutting property tax by 19 percent, and lowering spending to 2004 levels. Pollster Peter Brown says Scott has plenty of time to make good.

“Governors who tackle things up front, you know, may be better off,” said Brown.

What matters is how you finish, not how you begin. Scott has four years to prove himself, and according to the poll 56 percent are optimistic about the rest of his term. The number one concern of the 11-hundred voters polled was the state budget. 94 percent say it’s a serious obstacle facing the new governor.