However, public opinion surveys have consistently shown since the 2024 Presidential Election that Democrats continue to struggle with their own approval rankings. An Economist\/YouGov poll<\/a>\u00a0released this week shows that just 34% of Americans view congressional Democrats very or somewhat favorably and 55% view them unfavorably.<\/p>\n Illustrating the fact that Democrats are benefitting from voter anger at Trump, Jolly said he recently spoke with a nearly 90-year-old retired (and unidentified) Republican U.S. Senator who told him that while he could never leave the GOP, he intends to vote for every Democrat on the ballot \u201cunless you give me reason not to.\u201d<\/p>\n Message to GOP voters: We need you<\/p>\n The former MSNBC political analyst and GOP U.S. Representative began his nearly 45-minute address by thanking any Republicans or independent voters who were in the building with a succinct message: \u201cWe need you.\u201d<\/p>\n With a voter-registration deficit of nearly 1.5 million voters, Democrats absolutely do need Republicans to cross over to vote for the opposition party in statewide elections and in a majority of legislative and congressional districts throughout the state. That\u2019s what Nathan and Gregory managed last week.<\/p>\n A survey of 1,125 likely voters\u00a0by Emerson College<\/a>\u00a0released this week shows Jolly trailing Republican gubernatorial front-runner Byron Donalds by just 5 points, 44%-39%, with 17% undecided (the poll showed Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, the other major Democrat in the race, trailing Donalds by 9 points, 45%-36%, with 19% undecided).<\/p>\n The survey showed that Jolly and Donalds are essentially tied among Hispanic voters. It\u2019s the closest Jolly has been to Donalds in a presumptive one-on-one race, and he maintains \u2014 as he has since he entered the contest last June \u2014 that \u201cwe can win this race.\u201d<\/p>\n Policy proposals<\/p>\n Jolly laid out a series of policy proposals Thursday night.<\/p>\n Addressing property taxes, he has pushed for months a plan to create a state catastrophic fund and a state sovereign wealth fund to fully pay for hurricane and wind coverage, removing the private market from those responsibilities. \u201cI know there are some people in the room who are going to say some of what my Republican friends in Tallahassee say \u2014 \u2018That\u2019s socialism!\u201d he said. \u201cI just call it cheaper insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n Regarding property insurance, he didn\u2019t dismiss the need to provide relief to some homeowners. But he said the state needs to do an \u201cinversion\u201d of the 1992 Save Our Homes constitutional amendment and portability provision by providing targeted homestead exemptions for first-time home buyers, allowing more people, especially younger people, to receive financial relief in purchasing a home.<\/p>\n Jolly wants to raise revenue for public education to give public school teachers a 30% raise through the state\u2019s Tourist Development Tax.\u00a0State law<\/a> targets those funds for tourism promotion and related purposes, such as convention centers, beach facilities, museums, sports stadiums and arenas.<\/p>\n Jolly says that makes \u201cintuitive sense\u201d but not economic sense, \u201cbecause we don\u2019t have a crisis of convention centers in the state of Florida. We have a crisis in public education.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he could save homeowners and renters money by capping profits for the investor-owned utilities in the state to \u201cthe national average.\u201d A report by the\u00a0Energy & Policy Institute<\/a>\u00a0released last month showed that electric utilities around the country kept about 15 cents of every dollar they collected as profit last year. However, Florida Power & Light, which serves around 12 million customers through 6 million accounts, had a profit margin last year of 27.44%.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Sunburn-Ad-728x90-1-e1718033295481.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/728x90_TGHUSF68.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n