JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis has a narrow lead over former President Donald Trump among Republican voters in Florida.
That's according to a new poll released Thursday by the Public Opinion Research Lab at the University of North Florida.
The poll shows that 44% of surveyed registered Republicans in Florida would vote for DeSantis if the 2024 presidential primary were held today.
That's a slight percentage lead over Trump, who found favor among 41% of registered Republicans who participated in the poll.
Just 2% said they'd vote for someone else, while 7% said they didn't know and 6% refused to answer.
"With a lot of speculation about a possible presidential bid from DeSantis, we thought this would be an interesting hypothetical," Dr. Michael Binder, UNF's Public Opinion Research Lab faculty director, said. "It turned out to be pretty close with DeSantis up by three points against Trump. With both of them calling Florida home, this is a pivotal state and an outlier compared to national polling on this race."
The same poll also revealed that all registered voters in Florida, regardless of political affiliation, support DeSantis over Democratic challengers Charlie Crist and Nikki Fried by a large margin.
When asked who they would vote for if the 2022 gubernatorial election were held today, 55% of respondents said they'd choose DeSantis over either Crist or Fried.
Crist, who was a Republican when he was elected Florida governor in 2006, scored slightly higher than Fried, with 34% indicating a vote for Crist compared to 32% for Fried.
Fried is the lone Democrat to win statewide public office when she narrowly defeated Republican nominee Matt Caldwell to become Florida's agriculture commissioner.
