Jacob Ogles
Florida Republicans appear happy with the top elected leadership in the state. But GOP voters are less familiar with some Republican leaders on the statewide ballot next year.
A St. Pete Polls survey shows 82% of Florida Republicans approve of the job President Donald Trump is doing in the White House, while just 12% do not. Gov. Ron DeSantis boasts even stronger support, with more than 83% giving good marks to the Republican and less than 12% sounding disapproval.
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, who in November won a second term in the Senate, doesn’t have quite that level of support. But the Naples Republican still boasts 70% approval among voters in his own party. Less than 15% do not approve of his work in Washington.
As for U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, who was recently appointed to her post, just under 59% of Florida Republicans approve of her work as a Senator so far, while 11% disapprove. More than 30% remain unsure at this stage.
That’s still strongly positive but shows Moody may have some work to do to connect with voters ahead of 2026. She must stand for election next year, unlike Trump, DeSantis or Scott.
Pollsters also checked on U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, who in March launched a statewide campaign for Governor.
The Naples Republican, who currently represents Florida’s 19th Congressional District, has positive approval ratings from 57% of Republicans statewide, and less than 11% do not like his work performance. Meanwhile, more than 32% are unsure.
Overall, Republicans feel content with state leadership. Almost 82% agree that Florida appears to be on the right track, while just under 13% do not feel that way.
The support for Republican leaders was fairly consistent across race, gender and age. But Black voters were split on whether they approve or disapprove of Trump or Moody, and more disapproved of job performance for DeSantis, Scott and Donalds.
All candidates had the strongest approval rating among Republicans older than age 70 and the weekend among those under 30, but were above water with all age demographics.
The poll of 831 likely Republican Primary voters collected responses from July 8-10, and pollsters report a 3.4-percentage-point margin of error.
One comment
Homestead Fred
July 14, 2025 at 7:34 am
My comment posted on the wrong article. Again the people of Florida are very happy with Governor DeSantis. He won re-election convincingly. There is no chaos and rioting here unlike what is going on in Kalifornia, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, New York, etc. Keep up the fine work Governor..