Scott Powers
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ favorability ratings have surged after less than two weeks on the job, according to a new Mason-Dixon Florida poll.
The poll of Florida registered voters, taken during DeSantis’ second week as Governor, gave the Republican 48 percent favorable and 17 percent unfavorable.
That’s a huge swing his way since the last time Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy measured voters attitudes toward DeSantis, a couple of weeks before the Republican won the closest Florida Governor’s race in modern times. In October, Florida voters gave him a 39 percent favorable rating and a 34 percent unfavorable rating.
The latest poll’s ratings also put DeSantis way ahead of Florida’s two Republican U.S. Senators, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, and Republican President Donald Trump.
Rubio’s ratings came out 44 percent favorable and 23 percent unfavorable; Scott’s came out 42 percent favorable and 38 percent unfavorable; Trump’s were 42 percent favorable and 45 percent unfavorable.
The poll was conducted through telephone interviews Jan. 14-17 of 625 registered Florida voters. Mason-Dixon reported a margin of error of 4 percent.
Another difference from October: A lot more voters are in the middle about how they feel about DeSantis now: 20 percent told Mason-Dixon they were neutral about him in October. That’s up to 31 percent in the new poll.
Republicans are loving DeSantis, with 78 percent giving him a favorable rating and just 1 percent unfavorable. Democrats aren’t hating him; while only 17 percent gave him a favorable rating, only 40 percent gave him an unfavorable rating. Independents are generally liking him, with 52 percent saying they have a favorable opinion about the governor in his second week in office, and just 9 percent saying unfavorable.
