A.G. Gancarski
Florida’s Governor is well above water in a new poll that holds bad news for some other prominent in-state Republicans.
In the latest USA Today/Suffolk University/WSVN-TV phone poll of 500 likely voters conducted between Aug. 7 and Aug. 11, Ron DeSantis enjoys 52% approval against just 43% disapproval.
He derives particular strength from male voters, with a strong 57% favorable rating putting him 20 points above water.
But DeSantis is also close to even with female voters, of whom 46% regard him favorably and 48% disapprove.
He’s also strong in three of four regions of the state.
While DeSantis is only at 42% approval in South Florida, he enjoys 62% approval in North Florida, 52% in West Florida, and 53% in what pollsters call East Florida.
The state’s increasingly Republican composition (the GOP holds a million voter advantage over the Democrats) plays a role in his overall favorable numbers as well.
DeSantis’ 89% approval rating inside his own party makes up for being underwater with independents (with 50% disapproval against 43% approval), and with his predictably paltry approval numbers among Democrats (13% approval, 81% disapproval).
Despite no-party voters and the opposition party opposing DeSantis, the GOP composition of the state means that he’s at or above 50% with every age cohort considered. He’s at 51% with voters under 35 years old, at 55% with those 35-49 years of age, at 51% with those between 50 and 64 years old, and at 50% with senior citizens.
While he has a meager 20% approval rating with Black voters, meanwhile, he’s at 52% with Hispanics and 59% with White voters.
The Governor’s approval ratings contrast favorably to U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, his immediate predecessor in the executive branch mired at 35%. The Suffolk poll also shows a tight presidential race in the state, with Kamala Harris within 5 points of Donald Trump.
But despite a second term that included him leaving the state to run for President during much of last year, other polls show DeSantis is popular. A Fox News survey from June also showed him with 52% approval.
21 comments
Kamala is Brat🥥🌴🥥
August 13, 2024 at 11:18 am
Quack! Quack! If he acts like a lame duck, and looks like a lame duck …… put a fork in him his political future is cooked. I like my lame duck with hoisin sauce!
Meredith Morris
August 13, 2024 at 2:02 pm
Ron DeSantis is our nation’s best Governor! He is a brilliant, top notch executive who knows policy!! He also never sherked his military commitments. I wish we had that in Massachusetts!!! DeSantis for President 2028!
Cheesy Floridian
August 14, 2024 at 9:28 am
Please for the love all that is good no. He is not great. At all
Michael K
August 14, 2024 at 4:44 pm
Well, as someone who lives out odf state, you obviously have no idea how much damage he’s done to good people and institutions here. He’s a vindictive bully who made Floridians lab rats for Project 2025. Please, take him away from us. We deserve better.
DAVID ALLEN BRITTON
August 16, 2024 at 5:13 pm
I am a snowbird and in Massachusetts over Florida any day. If the weather was warmer in Ma I would not be in Florida. The amount of homeless and crime in South Florida is scary. There are areas in Sputh Florida I would not drive during the day bin.
kim sibley
August 20, 2024 at 7:36 pm
Ron Desantis is GREAT.
Diana Prince
August 13, 2024 at 2:26 pm
Everybody hates him in South Florida!! he is called Ron DESATAN !!!! he thinks we don’t see all the terrible things he does but we do!! he is a disgrace and only uneducated rednecks who live central and north Florida likes him or is so brainwashed that can’t even see how fascist he is…. or why don’t you think he never visit south Florida? Florida will be blue again and this terrible autocrat dictatorial wannabe will be vote out.
marilyn sibley
August 20, 2024 at 7:37 pm
Don’t hold you breath, Florida will stay deep red.
Cheesy Floridian
August 13, 2024 at 3:05 pm
I don’t like him at all. He said he govern from the middle but that was a lie.
Claudio Maldonado Jr
August 13, 2024 at 11:02 pm
Ron Desantis, has taken freedom’s away, banding books Denying students to know the truth about slavery. He has also scale back gun laws that are meant to keep floridians safe. And now he put millions of women at risk by taking their freedom’s away. I can’t see a damm thing that Desantis has done to benefit floridians.
Phil Morton
August 14, 2024 at 7:29 am
When you survey 8% more Republicans it’s pretty easy to get a +9 approval rating even when 2/3 of the electorate disapprove of the worst Governor in Florida history.
Janis Lentz
August 14, 2024 at 9:11 am
Mr. gankarski, you are dead WRONG about Floridians’ opinion of DeSantis! An utter unknown who accomplished nothing in three terms in Congress, just obstructing bills in the specious Tea party caucus, he was tapped by Trump for his white nationalist activities, and by stopping the counting of votes in Palm Beach County, managed to squeak by with 10,000 more votes than his opponent, who polled 4 points ahead of DeSantis on the eve of the election! Ron was utterly unqualified in all respects to govern the third largest state in the Union, and we Floridians have had our quality of life trashed by this extreme rightwing zealot who has unconstitutionally encroached upon our right to privacy and the separation of church and state mandated in the First Amendment to the Constitution! He is despised by a MAJORITY of Floridians for among other things, his junket for seven months outside the state, paid for by Florida taxpayers, to CAMPAIGN unsuccessfully for president—while Florida’s many urgent problems went unresolved! He has become a national laughingstock and harmed our reputation as a once-great place to live! If we had the power in Florida statutes to impeach this joker, we would have by now!
Cheesy Floridian
August 14, 2024 at 9:36 am
I’m so glad other people are paying attention. Not to mention, he has gone about and dismantled the Sunshine Laws that we had in place to hold government people accountable. The ethics board in the state has been stacked with his lackies so that board is pretty much fake.
My Take
August 14, 2024 at 5:23 pm
Most people outside Florida don’t seem to like him.
National office is well beyond his reach it appears.
MH/Duuuval
August 14, 2024 at 10:44 pm
Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock on wood!
Dont Say FLA
August 15, 2024 at 5:09 pm
Rhonda’s overwhelming popularity explains his perfect finish in Iowa, losing every last county in the entire state.
And then he lost Trump’s VP slot to Toadie Pants despite Toadie Pants being every bit as creepy and weird as Rhonda.
Turnip Truck Trump must have ants in his pants ’cause he picks VPs by how their name sounds after his and nothing else. The only qualification is that your last name ends with the sound of ants.
Andrew Finn
August 17, 2024 at 10:08 am
Ha Ha !!!!!! I didn’t know that this site had a comedy section. Apparently so, as this humorous article proves. Ron DeSatan is in good shape in the polls ? What polls ? What did they do – ask around until they found the few dozen people in the state who actually would admit they like him ?? Gimme a break — Joe Stalin would have rated better than he does !!!!!!
Candie Haberman
August 18, 2024 at 9:03 pm
Then Mr. Britton Please find another state to be a snowbird. There are other warm states that would welcome you with open arms. I’m sure most Floridians prefer not to have people here who don’t like it and come from a perfect state like Massachusetts (except for the cold)… Try Alabama
rick whitaker
August 19, 2024 at 7:23 am
CANDIE HABERMAN, florida is a hellhole. i can see the super greedy and the super stubborn floridians not wanting to admit that they live in a hellhole, but it i still the worst state in the country. mr. britton was right on when he talked about how bad florida is. you can thank desantis for all the bad work he’s done.. white supremacy is not all it is cracked up to be. candie, try alabama.
marilyn sibley
August 20, 2024 at 7:39 pm
Don’t hold you breath, Florida will stay deep red.
rick whitaker
August 20, 2024 at 7:54 pm
MARILYN, you live in the fear and loathing state of florida, i don’t, i still prefer people living in a dem state . you preferring to live in a maga nut state is frightening to imagine. i hope you have no kids being put through such danger and darkness. wake up for your own good.
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