Andrew Gillum leads Republican Ron DeSantis by six points in a new poll of the Florida governor’s race by Republican-leaning pollster Rassmussen.
Here are some key findings from Rasmussen:
The first Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey of the race finds that Gillum earns 48% support to DeSantis’ 42% among Likely Florida Voters. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate, and eight percent (8%) are undecided. Among voters who say they are certain to vote in the upcoming election, Gillum leads 49% to 44%.
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The GOP candidate picks up 80% of the vote from his fellow Republicans. Gillum has 82% support among Florida Democrats and a near two-to-one advantage among voters not affiliated with either major political party. DeSantis leads among men and middle-aged voters. Gillum has the advantage among women, younger voters and seniors.
The African-American mayor of Tallahassee, Gillum, has 75% of the black vote and leads among other minorities. DeSantis has a double-digit lead among Hispanics. Whites are evenly divided. Gillum is viewed favorably by 50% of voters in the Sunshine State and unfavorably by 36%. This includes 28% with a Very Favorable opinion of him and 26% with a Very Unfavorable one. DeSantis, a U.S. congressman, earns favorables of 45% and unfavorables of 42%, with 28% who see him Very Favorably and 32% with a Very Unfavorable view.
DeSantis Is Running As Mini-Trump But Struggling With White Voters
Ron DeSantis came straight out of the gate after winning the Republican nomination and made it clear that he is going to be pulling directly from the Trump playbook, but DeSantis’s attempts to racially divide the voters of the Sunshine State appear to be falling flat. The problem is that unlike DeSantis, Gillum isn’t a Washington creature.
In a blue wave year where voters are both anti-Trump and anti-Washington Republicans, DeSantis could be running the worst campaign to appeal to voters. Gillum is a fresh face, who like many other Democratic candidates around the country are talking to voters about kitchen table and pocketbook issues.
Rasmussen is a Republican-leaning pollster. They have had accuracy issues in the past, so this single poll, like any other single poll, should be taken as a grain of salt snapshot of the moment, but other Republicans have failed when tried to run as Trump clones, and it seems that DeSantis might be turning off more voters than his winning over by promising to bring more Trumpism to the Sunshine State.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
