Former President Donald Trump has taken a commanding lead over Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) in the pair’s home state of Florida, surging ahead by 39 points in a new poll.
The poll from the University of North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab recorded which candidates likely Republican voters prefer in the state’s 2024 presidential primary.
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The third Republican primary debate is set for one day after the UNF poll came out and will feature DeSantis taking on former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Trump leads all candidates in Florida, with 60% of GOP support. He’s followed by DeSantis at 29%, Haley at 6%, Christie at 2%, Ramaswamy at 1%, and Scott with less than 1% of support, according to the poll.
Trump received a slew of endorsements in the Sunshine State in the days before the UNF poll numbers were released. Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) endorsed Trump, as did several Florida lawmakers who flipped their endorsement from DeSantis to the former president.
“We’re going to win the Florida primary for the third straight time, and we’re going to win the state by a landslide next November,” Trump told a Florida crowd on Saturday, joined by the lawmakers who flipped their endorsement in his favor.
Trump’s lead in the state DeSantis governs is no indictment on the latter’s job performance, as the Florida governor still has an average approval rating among Republicans of 63.7%, according to FiveThirtyEight. However, taking on the former president may have hurt his approval since he has come down from 74.7% in February.
DeSantis has presented himself as a more electable candidate than Trump. However, according to the latest polls, Trump is leading President Joe Biden, the presumed 2024 Democratic nominee, in several swing states, including Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Michigan.
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With the two Floridians vying for the White House, DeSantis has engaged in a new strategy to be harsher in opposition to Trump — even taking a shot below the belt in a suggestive social media campaign.
“Despite historically high approval in the polls, Gov. DeSantis losing steam in his home state doesn’t bode well for his national campaign,” UNF political science professor Michael Binder told the Daily Mail.
