Poll: Only half back reelecting DeSantis and Rubio

Republican candidates still ahead of likely Democrat challengers

Slightly more than a year in advance of Florida’s gubernatorial primary, a poll released Wednesday found Democrat Charlie Crist in a slightly better position than Nikki Fried as the candidate to go up against Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The survey, paid for by the gaming company BUSR and conducted by a well-rated firm, Susquehanna Polling and Research, found DeSantis with 46% of the vote to 43% for Crist. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points, making it impossible to say which one would fare better in the November 2022 general election.

Fried, the other leading candidate for the Democratic nomina

tion, performs slightly worse in a hypothetical head-tohead matchup with DeSantis. He leads Fried 50% to 40%.

Fried is currently the state agriculture commissioner. Crist, a former Republican governor, is now a Democratic congressman from St. Petersburg.

DeSantis’ performance as governor was viewed positively by 52% of Florida voters, with 43% disapproving, a net positive of 9 points.

“DeSantis’ popularity continues to overperform expectations,” Jim Lee, president of Susquehanna Polling and Research, said in a statement about the poll results. He said the 52-43 approval “isn’t great, but in the context of what’s been happening in the state in recent weeks with the uptick in COVID cases, it’s certainly impressive. And it’s clearly good enough to get reelected in a swing state like Florida if it continues to stay above 50%.”

In the other major 2022 Florida race, for U.S. Senate, the poll found U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., with an 11-point advantage over Democrat Val Demings in a one-on-one matchup.

The Susquehanna survey found 50% for Rubio and 39% for Demings. The Orlando congresswoman is the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination to challenge Rubio.

A separate poll released Wednesday found a much tighter Rubio-Demings contest. The survey conducted for St. Pete Polls for Florida Politics showed Rubio with 48% and Demings with 46%, a statistical tie within the poll’s 2 percentage point margin of error.

Pollster ratings from FiveThirtyEight.com give both Susquehanna Polling and Research and St. Pete Polls ratings of B-plus based on the historical accuracy and methodology of its polls.

Susquehanna used live callers to survey 700 Florida registered voters from Aug. 4 to Aug. 10. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.

The poll also asked 245 Democrats about their preferences in the August 2022 primary, but the smaller sample size means the margin of error is much higher. They survey found Crist holds an 11-point advantage, 38% to 27%, over Fried among Democrats, but 30% were undecided.