DeSantis Leads Trump in New Florida Poll

A new poll out Tuesday comprising of Florida voters has Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis slightly ahead of former President Donald Trump in a potential 2024 GOP primary race.

The survey conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, Inc. of Jacksonville, with 625 registered Florida voters between March 27-30, has DeSantis leading Trump 44%-39% in the possible 2024 GOP primary matchup.

The 5-point lead, however, is remarkably close to the poll’s margin of error of about +/- 4 percentage points with the 507 registered Republican voters asked to weigh in on the primary race.

Twelve percent of those surveyed said they were undecided about who they would support.

While DeSantis has an advantage in the state poll, most national polls have Trump up by around 20 points over DeSantis even though the former president is scheduled to be indicted on criminal charges in New York on Tuesday.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and a grand jury handed down a multi-count indictment against Trump last week in relation to a 2016 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged affair the pair had years earlier.

The unprecedented, and historic indictment drove Trump’s polling numbers up since news of the charges came out last Thursday night, also helping his campaign raise more than $7 million for the 2024 race, according to CNBC.

The Florida state poll shows DeSantis with a 53% favorability rating, compared to 39% for Trump, and 33% for Democrat President Joe Biden.

Biden’s job approval is significantly underwater throughout the state, with between 59%-68% disapproving his performance in all but the southeast region of the state, including heavily Democratic Miami-Dade County, where 48% disapprove compared to 46% who approve of the job he is doing.

According to the poll, 98% of Republicans and 62% of independent voters dislike his job performance, while 76% of Democrats approve of it.

DeSantis, however, has a reverse rating throughout the state with between 59% approving of his job as governor, compared to 39% not approving, and only southeast Florida giving him a 48% approval and 49% disapproval rating.

The popular governor, who easily won his second term in November 2022, has seen his job approval increase by 4 percentage points since that election, rising from 55% job approval in September 2022 to 59% in March, according to the polling.