A.G. Gancarski
President Donald Trump has won Florida three times in both the General Election and the Presidential Primary. But a new survey by the University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Lab (PORL) suggests the state’s Governor is just a bit more beloved than the man from Mar-a-Lago.
Gov. Ron DeSantis marginally leads Trump in overall approval, 83% to 82%. And he’s better off than the President when it comes to unfavorable numbers. While 14% of Republicans disapprove of Trump, only 13% similarly disregard DeSantis.
Interestingly, given that DeSantis abandoned his run for President last year before the Florida Primary, the same amount of people who voted in that beauty contest (84%) like Trump and him.
Unsurprisingly given that this is a survey of Florida Republicans, other elected officials are well above water with their base, albeit with room for improvement.
Despite their long records of running in statewide races, U.S. Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody aren’t as well-liked as Trump or DeSantis.
Scott, a Naples Republican who preceded DeSantis as Governor, enjoys 60% approval against 21% disapproval, while an additional 13% either don’t know how they feel or never heard of him.
Moody may have won two straight races to be the state’s Attorney General, but that doesn’t mean voters know who she is, as 45% of them have never heard of the Plant City Republican and 10% simply don’t know what they think.
While 35% of Republicans approve of Moody, 10% say they do not.
Polling also considered the relative popularity of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Tesla/X/SpaceX/Starlink impresario Elon Musk and found both of them well ahead of the Senators.
Rubio, who preceded Moody in the Senate, enjoys a 78% approval rating against 14% disapproval.
Musk, who led Department of Governmental Efficiency efforts in the Trump administration before he broke with the President, has 65% approval against 26% disapproval.
To get these numbers, 797 active registered Republican voters were polled from July 14 through July 22, 2025.
