Poll: 88% of Florida Republicans approve of DeSantis, most likely to vote in November
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A poll conducted in April found that Gov. Ron DeSantis has garnered high marks among state Republicans, and that those Floridians are much more likely to vote than their Democratic and independent counterparts.
The poll from USA Today/Ipsos handed DeSantis a 44% approval overall, and 88% among Florida Republicans.
It found only 37% of independents approve of DeSantis’ overall job as governor, along with 13% of Democrats. 48% of respondents disapproved.
DeSantis will be termed out as Florida governor for the 2026 election.
While having lower marks among independents compared to his 2022 domination of that bloc over Democratic opponent Charlie Crist, Republicans dominate in voter enthusiasm for the 2024 election, a potential warning sign for Democratic candidates and initiatives.
The same poll found that 80% of Republicans are “certain” they will vote in the 2024 presidential election, while 67% of Democrats and 51% of independents said the same.
Overall, it found 62% of Floridians are certain they’ll vote.
Such an enthusiasm gap could exacerbate problems faced by Democrats as they face a GOP voter registration lead of almost 900,000 voters. For comparison, Democrats led by around 100,000 in the 2020 presidential election.
The same poll found that a high amount of independents and predictably, Democrats, support the initiative to legalize abortion up to the point of viability under the Florida Constitution. Overall, the initiative gained 57% support – 3% shy of the necessary 60% for passage. 6% were undecided.
Still, with Republicans more broadly opposing the initiative and independents being the least likely to vote, that level of support could end up lower than the poll’s finding come November because of the enthusiasm gap strongly benefitting Florida Republicans.
