On Tuesday, USA Today and Suffolk University released a new poll which has Gov. Ron DeSantis with solid leads over two of the Democrats looking to topple him in November.
DeSantis leads U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-Fla., who was elected governor in 2006 as a Republican, 49 percent to 43 percent. Matched up against state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, DeSantis does even better, leading her 51 percent to 40 percent.
A majority of those surveyed–52 percent–view DeSantis favorably while 42 percent see him unfavorably, 4 percent are undecided on him and 1 percent have never heard of him.
Asked about DeSantis’ handling of COVID, 46 percent say it’s been excellent or good while 53 percent view it as fair or poor. A slight majority–52 percent–support the state’s ban of vaccine requirements while 40 percent oppose it. Asked if Florida’s COVID policies have helped or hurt the state economy, 49 percent say they have helped it while 38 percent say they have hurt it. When asked about economic conditions in Florida today, 10 percent say they are excellent, 37 percent say they are good, 37 percent say they are fair and 13 percent say they are poor.
Crist is treading water in the poll with 35 percent viewing him favorably while the same percentage of those surveyed see him unfavorable though 24 percent are undecided on him and 6 percent have never heard of him.
Fried is far more of an unknown with 23 percent of those surveyed saying they have never heard of her and 30 percent undecided about her. She is seen as favorable by 27 percent while 19 percent view her unfavorably.
The poll of 500 likely voters in Florida was taken from Jan. 26 through Jan. 29 and had a margin of error of +/- 4.4 percent.
