A poll of 500 likely Florida voters that was conducted between January 26 and 29 via live telephone interviews has found that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is leading both his Democrat primary challengers in the 2022 election cycle.
The poll was conducted by Suffolk University/USA TODAY Network.
It found DeSantis leads former Republican governor turned Democrat Congressman Charlie Crist, who represents Florida’s 13th Congressional District, by a margin of 49 percent to 43 percent. Eight percent of people say they are undecided.
DeSantis leads the other primary candidate, Agricultural Commissioner Nikki Fried, by an even wider margin. The poll has DeSantis at 51 percent, and Fried at 4o percent. In that hypothetical matchup, nine percent of respondents were undecided.
The margin of error for the poll is +/- 4.4 percent, at a confidence level of 95 percent, according to the pollsters.
The poll also measured the state’s 2022 U.S. Senate race and President Joe Biden’s job approval in various areas.
“In the race for United States Senate, incumbent Senator Marco Rubio (49%) leads Congresswoman Val Demings (41%) with 10% undecided,” the poll said.
Rubio also leads Demings in a surprising demographic – Hispanic voters. Voters of that ethnicity historically tend to vote for Democrats, but Rubio leads Demings by a margin of 53 percent to 33 percent among Hispanic voters. Rubio himself is Hispanic.
Demings has low name recognition, the poll reported. A full 29 percent of the likely voters polled said they had never heard of her. The same percentage said they knew her, but had not formed an opinion on her.
As for Biden, his numbers were dismal in the Sunshine State, which has become increasingly red in recent years.
The poll found that in a hypothetical matchup between Biden and DeSantis, the governor would handily beat the president by a margin of 52 percent to 44 percent.
Likewise, former President Donald Trump would beat Biden by three points – 47 percent to 44 percent – according to poll results.
By the poll’s numbers, Biden’s approval rating among likely voters in the state is 39 percent, compared to 53 percent of likely voters who disapprove of him.
“Florida voters by a 30-point margin believe the country is on the wrong track (28% right, 58% wrong)…” the poll said, noting that “Biden’s approval rating for his handling of the pandemic was closer at 45% approve, 48% disapprove.”
On the issue of the economy, Biden had his worst performance.
Only 36 percent approve of his handling of the economy, compared to 57 percent who disapprove.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Florida Capital Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ron DeSantis” by Ron DeSantis.
Send him back to Cuba. He is unfit to call himself an American!