Chamber poll: Ron DeSantis is still popular, Joe Biden still isn’t

Gov. Ron DeSantis has had trouble gaining traction in early Primary states, but he’s still popular at home, according to new polling commissioned by the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

A survey conducted by Cherry Communications found that 50% of Florida voters have a favorable view of the Governor a year into his second term. His support is particularly strong among Republicans (86%), though he also enjoys majority support among Hispanic voters, 52% of whom are in his corner.

DeSantis’ numbers are essentially unchanged from an August measure from the same pollster, which found him at 51% overall, with 85% support among registered Republicans and 55% among Hispanic voters.

President Joe Biden’s numbers are somewhat consistent as well, though not in a good way. Over the past five months, the incumbent Democrat’s approval rating has fallen slightly, going from 56% disapproval to 59%.

The President’s unpopularity is most pronounced among Republicans, 91% of whom hold a negative view. Meanwhile, 58% of no-party voters are down on the Delaware octogenarian, as are two-thirds of Hispanic voters. Though he’s still above water with Democrats, there are some cracks — 26% of party faithful expressed an unfavorable opinion of the presumptive 2024 Democratic nominee.

Asked directly whether Biden should get a second term, 93% of Republicans, 71% of no-party voters and 35% of Democrats said no. Again, the trend of Hispanic voters peeling away from Democrats continued, with 73% telling the pollster they wouldn’t support Biden’s re-election.

Alongside the poll, the Florida Chamber issued an update on the state’s voter registration numbers, which have trended increasingly toward Republicans in recent years.

Florida Republicans overtook Democrats in voter registrations about two years ago, marking the first time in modern history that the GOP held a registration advantage in the Sunshine State. By mid-summer 2023, the party was touting an advantage of more than 500,000 voters.

The growing gulf is partially due to voters being removed from the rolls — the overall electorate had shrunk by more than 300,000 voters in the months between the 2022 election and when the Florida GOP touted the milestone. Most of the shrinkage, about 250,000 voters, came from Democratic ranks.

Still, the Republican edge grew further in the second half of 2023, with the overall gap nearly hitting 700,000.

“As Florida adds more than 1,000 net new residents every day, our economics, our demographics and as we see, our politics are all continuing to change,” said Florida Chamber Executive Vice President of Government and Political Relations Frank Walker. “Florida’s political landscape has changed dramatically in just the last couple of years and will continue to do so as we approach the 2024 election.”

The Florida Chamber poll was conducted Dec. 27-Jan. 4 via live telephone interviews. The sample included 237 Democrats, 256 Republicans and 107 no-party voters. The margin of error is +/- 4 percentage points.