Former President Donald Trump is getting the best of Gov. Ron DeSantis in the battle over the title of king of Florida in the 2024 presidential race.
Mr. Trump is the preferred pick of 50% of GOP registered voters in Florida, and Mr. DeSantis is the top choice of 30% of those voters in his own state, according to a new survey from Florida Atlantic University Mainstreet PolCom Lab.
Mr. Trump also holds a 54% to 37% lead over Mr. DeSantis in a hypothetical two-person race in Florida, with 8% of Republican voters on the fence. The good news for Mr. DeSantis is that he has cut seven percentage points off Mr. Trump’s lead in Florida since April in the same poll.
The other Floridian in the race, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, was not included in the poll.
Mr. Trump leads Mr. DeSantis across most demographic groups, with the glaring exception of white college-educated voters.
“The poll highlights Donald Trump’s quite durable support. He does especially well with white working-class voters, who have consistently formed a steadfast base for the former president,” said Kevin Wagner, professor of political science at FAU. “This persistent support continues to bolster Trump’s strong and steady position within the party.”
It is a troubling sign for Mr. DeSantis, whose 19-point landslide re-election victory last fall, combined with the success Florida Republicans had up and down the ticket, helped propel him into the 2024 GOP nomination race.
Mr. DeSantis has been making the case to GOP voters in early primary states that legislative gains the party has made in Florida for conservative causes and against woke Democrats make the state a model for the rest of the nation.
Mr. Trump, meanwhile, has consistently attacked Mr. DeSantis, saying “DeSantimonious” has no personality and saying he would have never won the governorship in 2018 if it were not for Mr. Trump’s endorsement.
Mr. DeSantis has largely steered clear of trying to get into a firefight with Mr. Trump, choosing instead to take subtle swipes at the former president for his 2020 loss, and the GOP’s electoral setbacks on his watch.
In the FAU survey, 54% of all voters say they approve of the way Mr. DeSantis has handled his job as governor, giving him a 4% edge over Mr. Trump on that front.
He also is running stronger than Mr. Trump among all voters in a hypothetical matchup with President Biden.
Mr. DeSantis has a 13-point lead over Mr. Biden (49% to 36%), while Mr. Trump has a 10-point edge, 49% to 39%.
“These poll results could be an important motivator for DeSantis to promote his bid for the Republican primary, as he may be a stronger candidate against the incumbent,” Dukhong Kim, Ph.D., associate professor of political science at FAU, said in the poll release.
Conducted from June 27 to July, the survey included 933 Florida adults.
The margin of error for the poll is 3.2% at the 95% confidence level.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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