Bill McCollum said in a conference call with reporters and bloggers Tuesday evening that he doesn’t believe he’s as far behind as some polls suggest.
“Well, the polls that we believe in — the polls of likely Republican voters that McLaughlin has done, and others that we respect…show a four to six point lead by Scott.” McCollum said. “The other polls that are out there, we don’t think are credible for different reasons. One is that they do not poll, in one case, likely Republican voters, they just poll all registered voters they happened to pick up on. In another case, the sample size was way too small to be credible. One of them was a poll, of course, by Scott’s folks.”
The McLaughlin poll cited by McCollum may have reason itself to be called into question, as reported by Sunshine State News:
Scott campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Baker declined to comment, except to call the McLaughlin survey “trash … coming straight from McCollum.”
Indeed, McLaughlin received $1.39 million from the Florida First Initiative between July 15 and July 28. Florida First is a 527 campaign fund linked to McCollum.
Regardless of whose numbers you take, though, a large chunk of voters have yet to make up their minds. Even today’s poll giving Scott a 16-point lead did so with 28 percent undecided.
McCollum said his recent endorsements by state business associations and a forthcoming ad in support of his campaign by the Florida Chamber of Commerce will help sway those voters.
“We don’t think we’re very far behind at all, and we see momentum coming our way,” McCollum said. “While Rick Scott may claim he’s the businessman and can run the state, the business leadership in this state knows better.”