Politics
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ahead of Trump in new Wisconsin GOP presidential poll
Support for Florida’s GOP leader has surged in recent months and recent polls have shown him obliterating his Democratic opposition in the upcoming gubernatorial election
May 23, 2022 11:18am
Updated: May 23, 2022 11:59am
A new straw poll of attendees at a Wisconsin GOP convention sent shockwaves across the political universe after the results revealed that Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis was the crowd favorite for the GOP presidential nomination – ahead of the presumed favorite, former President Donald Trump.
According to the WisPolitics.com poll, the majority of support was split between DeSantis (38%) and Trump (32%) while candidates like South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence and Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul polled in the single digits.
When asked if they wanted Trump to run for reelection in 2024, 43% said yes, 31% said no and 22% were unsure.
Asked if they wanted Trump to run for president in 2024, the respondents were split; 43% said yes; 31% said no, and 22% were unsure.
Support for Florida’s GOP leader has surged in recent months and recent polls have shown him obliterating his Democratic opposition in the upcoming gubernatorial election.
A recent Saint Leo University Polling Institute survey shows that more than half of respondents (58.8 percent) say they approve of the job Governor Ron DeSantis is doing and that Floridians prefer DeSantis to former Gov. Charlie Crist by 16 points – 49% to 33%.
“Governor DeSantis is benefitting from a strong economy and a lack of COVID cases in the state over the past few months,” said Frank Orlando, director of the Saint Leo University Polling Institute and a political scientist. “While he gets lots of national attention for provoking the ire of liberals on things like masking, it doesn’t seem to hurt him in Florida, and in fact continues to raise his national profile.”
But the Saint Leo University poll also shows wide support for a 2024 DeSantis presidential run.
When asked about “notable and possible candidates,” a majority of those polled supported either Trump (64.3%) or DeSantis (55.5%). However. In a scenario in which Trump was not a candidate, respondents overwhelmingly chose to support DeSantis (65.9%) over potential candidates including Pence (26.9%) and Donald Trump Jr. (23.6%).
Ultimately, the importance of the polling data can best be understood by reviewing Florida’s past gubernatorial elections, the Daily Wire reported.
In 2010, Republican candidate Rick Scott defeated Democrat Alex Sink, 49%-48%.
Later in 2014, Scott ran against former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, besting the seasoned politician 48%-47%.
In 2018, DeSantis bested Democrat Andrew Gillum by 40,000 votes or .4%.
