According to a poll of registered Republicans last week, Congressman Alan Grayson still has an enormous lead in the Republican primary for Florida Congressional District 8 (FL-8), just as he did three months ago.
Grayson is, of course, a Democrat. Yet Grayson is far and away the leading choice for Congress among registered Republicans in FL-8. In fact, he has as much support among Republicans as his top three Republican opponents combined.
In the poll, Grayson won the support of 26.5% of registered Republicans, virtually the same figure as three months ago. None of Grayson’s seven Republican opponents scored higher than 11.2%. 41.8% of registered Republicans remain undecided.
Grayson also has an enormous lead in name recognition. An incredible 92.9% of Republicans know Grayson; none of his opponents scored higher than 33.7%. 95.6% of Republican men know Grayson, and 90.6% of Republican women know him.
Interestingly, among Republicans, Grayson is substantially more popular than Republican former State Senator Daniel Webster. Not only did a vast number of Republicans prefer Grayson to Webster, but also the Republicans with an unfavorable view of Webster outnumbered Republicans with a favorable view by more than two to one. “That’s what happens when you get too close to Typhoid Crotty,” said Grayson. “And Webster and Jim Greer spawned the Republican Culture of Corruption in Florida.”
Grayson received high marks from Republicans for his Constitution initiative. Almost half of all Republicans said that they were more likely to vote for Grayson because he passed a resolution urging high schools to teach the Constitution, and he had distributed tens of thousands of copies of the Constitution throughout the district.
When asked which party they were most likely to support in this election, 16.3% of registered Republicans chose the Tea Party. The Florida Tea Party has nominated Peg Dunmire for Congress.
Asked to comment on these results, Congressman Grayson reiterated what he had said previously: “People like a Congressman with guts. And they want results. We increased federal competitive grants in this district by 98% in our first year. That extra $100 million benefits Republicans, Independents and Democrats equally. People of every political persuasion want to see action to help solve their problems, and that’s what they’re seeing from us.”
When asked if he wished that he had run in the Republican primary, Grayson said: “No thanks. The Republican Party is about as popular as food poisoning.”
The poll was conducted on May 27th. There were 320 respondents, all registered Republicans in FL-8. The margin of error was 5%. Middleton Market Research conducted the poll.
