A new Susquehanna (R)/Sunshine State News poll of Florida’s 8th District shows fiery liberal Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson trailing his Republican opponent, former state Sen. Dan Webster.
The numbers: Webster 43%, Grayson 36%, plus 6% for Tea Party candidate Peg Dunmire and independent George Metcalfe. The survey of likely voters has a ±4.14% margin of error. There is no previous poll of this race by this firm for direct comparison
The pollster’s analysis finds that Grayson’s unfavorable rating is at 51%: “He’s even more unpopular than the president, which is not surprising given how controversial he has been with his rhetoric, overall style and TV ads.”
Grayson’s district has historically voted Republican, but swept him into office with the 2008 Obama wave. Since then, he has distinguished himself mainly by his over-the-top attacks on Republicans. In some ways, it seems like he’s made a point of attacking Republicans with the same vitriolic rhetoric they use against Democrats. For example, he famously said the Republican health care plan is for people who get sick to “die quickly,” imagined Dick Cheney as a vampire, and recently released an ad dubbing Webster “Taliban Dan,” declaring that Webster is out to oppress women — and in the latter case, appearing to take Webster’s full comments out of context from the original video.
