@doug_hanks

Miami-Dade voters are generally split on David Beckham building a stadium next to Marlins Park, but overwhelmingly support the idea once told the school system will be a partner in the project, according to a private poll.

When 400 likely county voters were asked their opinion on building a Major League Soccer stadium for Beckham's team next to the baseball park, 40 percent supported the idea and 44 percent opposed. But told favorable attributes about Beckham's arrangement with the county school system, including free use for graduations and sporting events, and respondents embraced the plan: 74 percent supported the stadium and just 19 percent opposed.

"Voters in general, and those in Miami-Dade in particular, are naturally skeptical of deals such as this," said Keith Donner, the political consultant who helped craft the poll for a private-sector client he declined to name. "Once they know more about the proposed deal-- especially the school system's involvement and the benefits to the public schools -- they gravitate towards supporting it in droves. They really move over."

The telephone poll was conducted in English and Spanish between Oct. 30 and Nov. 4 by National Victory Strategies out of West Miami. Donner said the respondents were screened for prior participation in low-turnout elections. (The poll is roughly split between Democrats and Republicans, though the GOP makes up less than a third of the county's electorate. Read the poll results here.)

Donner shared the stadium portion of what he said was a much larger poll, but declined to provide the entire survey. He described the client as a "disinterested party that was polling on other issues tangentially related to the school system."