A.G. Gancarski
Gov. Ron DeSantis scored a coup in Iowa Monday night, picking up Gov. Kim Reynolds‘ endorsement. But a new poll points to trouble at home.
The University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Lab shows the Governor trailing former President Donald Trump by nearly 40 points. Trump has 60% support while DeSantis has just 21% backing.
“Despite historically high approval in the polls, Governor DeSantis losing steam in his home state doesn’t bode well for his national campaign,” commented Dr. Michael Binder, PORL faculty director and professor of political science.
Other candidates are just footnotes: Nikki Haley is in third with 6%, followed by Chris Christie with 2%, and Vivek Ramaswamy with 1%.
DeSantis performs best in this survey with younger voters. He’s at or above 30% with voters under the age of 35, though that youthful cohort typically doesn’t move Republican Primaries.
Among voters 65 years of age and older, however, DeSantis is weakest, with 18% support compared to 57% for the former President.
As has been typical with most polling of the race in Florida and elsewhere, college educated voters are more likely to break for DeSantis. While 24% of that group backs the Governor, against 47% for Trump, the same can’t be said with those who never filled out a FAFSA. Among those with high school education or less, Trump leads DeSantis by 50 points, 68% to 18%.
Unsurprisingly given the 39-point lead in a full field poll, a two-way race doesn’t appreciably help DeSantis. 59% of those polled say they would vote for Trump, with 29% for DeSantis, and 12% more would not venture an answer.
The new polling data comes after several state legislators flipped their endorsements from DeSantis to Trump at a Republican Party of Florida event this weekend. Sen. Debbie Mayfield and Reps. Jessica Baker, Webster Barnaby, Alina Garcia and Kevin Steele moved over to the former President’s column.
The UNF poll tracks with the Race to the White House polling average for Florida, which shows Trump with 56% support, 33 points ahead of DeSantis.
The poll surveyed 788 registered Republicans and was conducted from Oct. 23 through Nov. 4,
7 comments
S "Mugsy" Mouthe
November 7, 2023 at 6:00 am
Next time, AG, ask the same voters what they think about DeSantis for President in 2028 and report those results. You won’t look quite so smug if you do.
University of North Florida
November 7, 2023 at 11:00 am
Yeah but he’s running now and absolutely hurting his future in doing so.
MH/Duuuval
November 7, 2023 at 9:18 am
Reagan and Bush shared a ticket, so why not Trump and Dee?
Duh!
November 7, 2023 at 9:32 am
Because Reagan and Bush lived in different states!
University of North Florida
November 7, 2023 at 11:08 am
Other than the ego factor it is illegal
Joe
November 7, 2023 at 12:32 pm
Those who know him best, like him least.
Biscuit
November 7, 2023 at 1:38 pm
Newsfart out of Florida: a poll of Florida Republicans shows that 60% of them are morons, 21% idiots. The rest of them were too busy engaging in “Hey y’all, watch this!” Florida Man activities and missed the poll. And those were the smart ones.
Arf.
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