Nearly half of all of Florida voters now disapprove of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ job performance. His disapproval rating rose over the last two months along with Florida’s COVID-19 cases. NBC 6’s Carlos Suarez reports
A large percentage of Florida's Republican voters continue to support Gov. Ron DeSantis, but his overall popularity has been declining in recent weeks amid the surge in COVID-19, a new poll shows.
In the Morning Consult Political Intelligence poll of 4,174 registered Florida voters conducted Aug. 21-30, 48% approve of DeSantis' job performance, while 48% disapprove. A similar poll conducted from June 22 to July 1 showed 54% approval to 40% disapproval.
The first-term Florida governor’s approval among Republicans remained strong at 83%, compared to 87% in the earlier poll. Approval among Democrats was at 21% compared to 24% in the previous poll.
But among independents, DeSantis' approval has dropped 10 percentage points, from 50% to 40%, according to the poll. Disapproval among independents has gone from 38% to 51%.
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The poll was taken as the state experienced a surge in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths, and while DeSantis fought public school districts over mask mandates.
