Undecideds? More like undetectables

WASHINGTON - It’s more than six weeks until the Nov. 8 election, but don’t expect a lot of last-minute vote-switchers.

A poll of 460 Floridians by Suffolk University this week found that 405 – 88 percent - had made up their minds in the presidential race. Another 48 – 10 percent - said they’re pretty sure they know but might change before Election Day.

That leaves … seven people who expect to vote but haven’t decided on a candidate.

That may not be surprising given the level of passion for – and against – nominees Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Shirley St. Germain, a Trump supporter from Marco Island, said she knows couples who are split on the presidential race.

Intense SWFL interest in debate

“I have friends that are married and one of the spouses will say, if Hillary wins, she’s moving out of the country,” said St. Germain, a former restaurant owner. “And the husband will say, if Trump wins, he’ll (do the same). It’s like they’re so strong on the hate.”

“My sense is that this is very similar (to other states),” David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, emailed. “Keep in mind, roughly two-thirds of voters in these battleground polls are made up of either party ID-ed or registered Democrats/Republicans and they overwhelmingly vote partisan and are decided.”

All of this means campaigns are focusing on mobilizing their candidate’s supporters and aren’t worrying too much about trying to convince the few swing voters who remain.

Of course, this is Florida, the nation’s most important swing state and one known for nail-biting elections. So even 1 percent of voters can determine the course of a presidential contest

Republican political consultant and public opinion guru Frank Luntz said candidates ignore the undecideds at their peril.

“As someone who has listened to them for a quarter-century now, the candidate that is most engaging and least offensive is the candidate who wins this essential bloc—and therefore the election,” Luntz wrote in a column for Time magazine. “They’ll tell you, and tell themselves, that they’re voting for the candidate with the best ideas. But they’re really voting for the one who they believe is most ‘on their side.’ In the end, subtlety will sway more undecided voters than the sledgehammer.”

Polls: Tight between Clinton, Trump in Florida

Scott: Washington shrouded in incompetence

It looked like Congress would come together and approve funding for anti-Zika efforts this week.

Lawmakers essentially agreed to $1.1 billion but the money is part of a spending bill aimed at keeping the government open past the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year. That bill has been held up by fights over issues such as Planned Parenthood funding and the Flint, Mich. water crisis.

Confidence remains relatively high lawmakers will reach a compromise before they recess after next week.

But the continued lack of an agreement drew scorn from Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who visited Capitol Hill last week to lobby for approval of a Zika bill.

“When you travel around and talk to voters all across the country today, they will tell you that Washington is broken,” Scott wrote in an op-ed for USA TODAY that ran Thursday. “That’s not really true, it is much worse than broken. To call our federal government broken is far too complimentary. No, the truth is that Washington is completely incompetent.”

Rep. Steny Hoyer, the House Democratic Whip called Scott’s criticism “deeply misleading” since it was House GOP conservatives who successfully pushed for a much smaller bill ($622 million) over the $1.1 billion the Senate passed in May.

“The reason why the President’s request for emergency funds to combat the spread of Zika has not yet been enacted is not because Congress is ‘incompetent,’ as the Governor claims, but because those funds have been blocked for months by his own Tea Party allies ,” the Maryland Democrat said in a statement.

“Even after the Senate took bipartisan action in May, passing a $1.1 billion emergency Zika supplemental bill by a vote of 68-30, Tea Party-affiliated House Republicans continued to oppose this critical funding, pandering to their base by insisting that it is too costly and demanding that it deny funding for women’s health care,” Hoyer said.

Florida has nearly 900 cases of the mosquito-borne virus that can cause birth defects and paralysis.

President Obama first asked Congress for $1.9 billion in February to develop a vaccine, expand mosquito control and distribute testing kits.

Help for citrus farmers

House lawmakers took an important step to help Florida’s citrus growers by passing legislation Wednesday to help growers replace trees damaged by citrus greening.

Greening is an incurable bacterial disease that has infected 90 percent of Florida’s commercial citrus groves, according to the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

“This bill will go a long way toward protecting the livelihoods of the 62,000 hard-working Floridians in our signature citrus industry,” said GOP Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key. “The story of American agriculture is one of resilience and hard work against tremendous odds. Citrus farmers are being hit hard and Congress needs to help them recover.”

The Emergency Citrus Disease Response Act of 2016 passed 400-20 with overwhelming support.

The legislation would provide tax incentives for farmers who cannot afford to replace trees affected by citrus greening. Under current law, growers are allowed an immediate deduction for the cost of replanting diseased trees, but the farmer must bear the full cost.

Buchanan’s proposal would allow struggling farmers to use this deduction even if they bring in investors to raise capital for replanting costs, as long as the grower continues to own a major stake in the grove. It would extend this incentive to purchasers of land with diseased trees.

The bill now moves to the Senate where it could see action next week.

Miller rebukes fellow Republican over vet comments

It’s not too often that congressional scolding happens publicly between members of the same party. But House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller wasn’t happy with one of his fellow Republicans this week.

Ohio GOP Rep. Warren Davidson asserted that “moochers” and “pretenders” are clogging the Veterans Affairs health care system.

Miller, who has been deeply critical of the VA system’s handling of patients, rebuked his fellow congressman.

“I can only hope that Rep. Davidson misspoke, and I look forward to him clarifying his remarks,” he said.

But Davidson, an Army veteran, did not back down when asked on Thursday to explain what he meant.

“As a veteran, I know the subpar care that many of my brothers and sisters in arms have received, and I will not be content until that is changed,” he said in a statement emailed by his spokesman. “Any effort to suggest I have anything other than a soldier’s passion for providing our veterans with the care they deserve is dishonest.”

A newcomer to politics, Davidson won a special election in June to succeed former House Speaker John Boehner, who resigned.

Asked about the scope of health-related fraud at the VA, a spokesman for the inspector general’s office pointed to the agency’s most recent semi-annual report to Congress, covering Oct. 1, 2015 through March 31, 2016. That report showed the VA watchdog office opened 14 investigations related to the fraudulent receipt of health benefits, which resulted in five arrests for various related crimes.

Contributing: Deirdre Shesgreen and Anne Saker, USA TODAY Network