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Patrick Murphy-David Jolly ticket has juice, poll shows

A thirst for bipartisanship in a hyper partisan era? But will it happen?
 
Published May 4, 2018|Updated May 4, 2018

With David Jolly as his Republican running mate, former Florida Congressman Patrick Murphy would lead the Democratic field for governor, according to a poll released Friday.

The lead is slight, the chances of anything happening still unclear, if distinctly remote, and the poll was paid for by an unidentified backer of Murphy, who of course would appear on the Aug. 28 primary ballot alone.

But it could show a thirst for bipartisanship.

Murphy, who gained some statewide recognition in a 2016 run for Senate against Marco Rubio, would take 21 percent of the Democratic primary vote if voters know Jolly, a former congressman from Pinellas County turn cable TV news critic of President Trump, would be his lieutenant governor.

Philip Levine, the former Miami Beach mayor who has spent millions so far on TV ads, would get 17 percent of the vote, Gwen Graham 12 percent, Andrew Gillum 6, Chris King 3.

Forty-one percent of voters are undecided, according to the FrederickPolls survey, which was conducted April 23-28 and included 750 likely Democratic primary voters.

It has a margin of error of +/- 3.6 percentage points, and by choosing a 50/50 gender split, it did not take into account past primary turnout. In the 2014 Democratic primary, 60 percent of turnout was women.

"What excites me about the poll is that democratic primary voters are saying what we are hearing everywhere – that it is time for people to work together and do things differently in politics," Murphy told the Tampa Bay Times on Friday. "Democrats absolutely want healthcare for everyone. They want to get assault weapons off our streets and they want a clean environment. But Democratic primary voters are also recognizing that if we don't all work together, nothing will be accomplished. There is nothing about my name being in the poll that's exciting to me, however the fact that this concept has resonance with these voters is exciting."

"There's a lot of conventional wisdom that's wrong," pollster Keith Frederick told Politico, which got an exclusive on the poll Friday. "What this poll shows is this idea — of a new approach to politics with a bipartisan team that works together to solve problems — has currency in the Democratic primary."

Without Jolly in the race, Levine is in the lead with 20 percent of the Democratic vote. Murphy got 14 percent — the same as Graham.

Neither Murphy nor Jolly has signed on to the idea but they have been in discussions. Jolly told the Tampa Bay Times last week that it could work.

"You have to recognize that Donald Trump tapped into anger, but I don't think his approach has been one that has healed that anger or has bridged the divide," Jolly said. "The opportunity here is not to suggest a ticket of moderates. I think that we're speaking to what nobody else is, the ability to work together in a bipartisan way."

But they would still face hurdles, not least of which is raising significant amounts of money and setting up a campaign apparatus.