Rick Scott's Approval Rating Is Great! (According to Lobbyists and PR Firms)

If you ask Floridians if they approve of Gov. Rick Scott's job performance, between 26 and 38 percent would say yes.

In the last week, though, two "polls" have been released that claim the governor's approval rating is much, much higher.

According to a public relations/communications firm hired by the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the governor's approval rating is 48.31 percent. According to the lobbying organization National Federation of Independent Business, it's 69 percent -- well, among "small business owners."

The Florida Chamber of Commerce even said its poll shows the governor's job approval is "on the rise."

Strangely, nearly 90 percent of the people they claim to have polled also want various Republicans to be president. Eleven percent said "undecided," and less than 1 percent said "other."

Then there's the news release from the governor's office saying he has 69 percent approval among Florida's "small business owners."

That's from the NFIB -- which not only endorsed Scott for governor in 2010 but pretty much every other Republican running for major office that year.

If this is the science that's passing for poll results now, we'd like to point out that almost 6 percent of New Times readers approve of Scott's job performance.

On the other hand, about 29 percent of our readers also believe haunted houses are real, which is about 8 points below the national average last time Gallup polled that one.