In a newest poll from St. Pete Polls, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is outperforming his likely Democratic challengers in a hypothetical head-to-head general election. According to the poll, DeSantis would defeat Congressman Charlie Crist (D-FL-13) 50.6-44.8 percent. DeSantis would also defeat Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried (D) 51.2-42.3 percent.
Surprisingly, in the matchup between DeSantis and Crist, DeSantis outperformed Crist among young voters by carrying 57.5 percent of likely voters aged 18-29. The youngest age bracket saw the most swing in favor for DeSantis.
Of likely Independent voters, 52 percent of them broke for DeSantis over Crist.
Many of the margins increased for DeSantis when going up against Fried, as well, including likely female voters who backed DeSantis 50.8-43.1 percent. DeSantis also carried much of the younger vote even when paired against Fried. DeSantis gathered support from young voters by nearly 20 percentage points (57.2-37.4 percent).
In the likely 2022 Florida Senate race between Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Congresswoman Val Demings (D-FL-10), Rubio also fares well by taking 51 percent of the vote compared to Demings 44.3 percent.
Demings, who is an African American woman, polled very well among likely black voters by carrying 77.3 percent of the black vote. However, Demings lost the hypothetical overall female vote 49.8-45.7 percent.
Reflecting similar momentum for young Republicans, Rubio carried the 18-29 demographic 57.5-39.0 percent over Demings. Rubio carried each of the other demographic categories with the next widest margin skewing to the 70+ voters by 54.3-41.7 percent.
Of the demographic changes made from 2018 voters to likely 2021 voters in Florida, the poll reflects a +0.6 percent increase in Republican totals and an inverse for Democrats.
The poll was conducted totaling almost 3,000 respondents from November 18-19 and was done through an automated phone call polling system. The poll has a 1.8 percent margin of error.
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Grant Holcomb is a reporter at The Florida Capital Star and The Star News Network. Follow Grant on Twitter and direct message tips.
Photo “Ron DeSantis” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Photo “Marco Rubio” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Background Photo “Florida’s Historic Capitol and Florida State Capitol” by Michael Rivera. CC BY-SA 3.0.
