By Kyle Schmidbauer
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is projected to win re-election by a margin of up to 16 points, according to a recent Mason-Dixon poll.
The poll, which was released Tuesday and conducted between Feb. 7 and Feb. 10, found DeSantis leading all three major Democratic candidates seeking Florida’s governorship. DeSantis holds an eight-point lead over Rep. Charlie Crist, a former one-term Republican governor who currently leads the Democratic primary field. The poll surveyed 625 registered voters and has a +/- 4-point margin of error.
DeSantis also leads Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried by a nine-point margin of 53%-42% and state Sen. Annette Taddeo by 16 points, or 53%-37%. DeSantis also leads by a wide margin among independent voters; against Crist, he wins them by a 56%-33% margin.
Among Democrats, Crist is currently the favorite to win the nomination, with 44% of Democratic voters supporting him to Fried’s 27%. Taddeo, Crist’s running mate in his 2014 re-election bid, only received 3%. Twenty-six percent of voters remain undecided.
The poll also gauges DeSantis’ job approval, showing that 53% of voters approve of his job as governor while 43% disapprove. These figures are nearly identical to the 53%-42% margin polled last February, according to a Miami NBC affiliate.
FL GOV poll (Mason-Dixon):
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) 51
Rep. Charlie Crist (D) 43DeSantis 53
Ag Commish Nikki Fried (D) 42DeSantis 53
St Sen. Annette Taddeo (D) 37DEM primary:
Crist 44
Fried 27
Taddeo 3
Undecided 26https://t.co/4mCQQo5geD— Reid Wilson (@PoliticsReid) February 15, 2022
DeSantis received nationwide media attention for his non-interventionist approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as for his administration’s crackdowns on the teaching of critical race theory and alleged online censorship. (RELATED: Ron DeSantis Calls Florida ‘America’s West Berlin’ After COVID-19 Response)
DeSantis is also viewed as a frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election, particularly if former President Donald Trump bows out of the race.
