Suffolk University/USA TODAY Florida Poll

Gubernatorial and senate races

In the 2022 race for governor, DeSantis (49%) leads former Governor Charlie Crist (43%) with 8% undecided. DeSantis (51%) also leads Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried (40%) with 9% undecided.

In the race for United States Senate, incumbent Senator Marco Rubio (49%) leads Congresswoman Val Demings (41%) with 10% undecided. Rubio enjoys wider margins over Demings among men (57%-37%), white voters (56%-37%), and Hispanic voters (53%-33%), while Demings heavily carries Black voters (71%-16%). Demings trails partly due to a name recognition problem. Among all voters, 29% had never heard of her and 29% had heard her name but not formed an opinion. However, Demings leads Rubio (51%-42%) among those familiar with both candidates.

“On the surface, it looks like a longshot bid for Val Demings, who trails by 8 points with just 10% undecided,” Paleologos said. “But the familiar-with-both candidates data point suggests that as Demings introduces herself to more voters, her deficit could narrow, giving her the potential to flip the seat.”

COVID-19

A slight majority (52%) of voters support the state’s ban on vaccine requirements and more voters feel that Florida’s COVID-19 policies have helped the Florida economy (49%) than hurt it (38%). However, only 46% rated the governor’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as excellent/good while 53% rated it fair/poor.

Economy

Economic conditions in Florida were rated as excellent/good (47%) versus fair/poor (50%). Jobs/economy (20%) was also the top issue overall, followed by immigration policy (15%), inflation (13%), COVID-19 and crime/guns (tied at 9%), and schools/education (8%).

Mental health crisis

Nearly three-quarters (73%) of likely midterm voters say there is a mental health crisis today, tracking the findings in the Suffolk University/USA TODAY national poll released in early January, in which 88% indicated there is a mental health crisis in the country.

Direction of country and President Biden

Florida voters by a 30-point margin believe the country is on the wrong track (28% right, 58% wrong), with President Biden’s approval rating at 39% approve and 53% disapprove. Biden’s approval rating for his handling of the pandemic was closer at 45% approve, 48% disapprove. However, voters panned his handling of the economy (36% approve, 57% disapprove).

Methodology

This statewide survey of 500 likely Florida voters was conducted January 26-29 using live telephone interviews of households where respondents indicated they were very or somewhat likely to vote in the November 2022 general election for governor. The margin of error is +/-4.4 percentage points at a 95 percent level of confidence. The subset of 164 likely 2024 Democratic Primary voters for president has a margin of error of +/-7.6 percentage points and the subset of 176 likely 2024 Republican Primary voters for president has a margin of error of +/-7.4 percentage points. Marginals and full cross-tabulation data are posted on the Suffolk University Political Research Center website: www.suffolk.edu/SUPRC. For more information, contact David Paleologos at 781-290-9310, [email protected].