Presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis has finally received some good news in his home state of Florida after a string of polls called into question his campaign's momentum in a crowded GOP candidate field.
While his primary opponent, Donald Trump, maintains a healthy lead in the Sunshine State, according to a Florida Atlantic University Mainstreet PolCom Lab poll published Monday, DeSantis has begun to see a gain among the more than 900 registered voters pollsters surveyed in the state.
Though Trump still leads DeSantis by approximately 20 points in the pollster's analysis, the gap between the two candidates has narrowed by 7 percent since the PolCom Lab's April poll results. This suggests that Florida could be growing increasingly competitive as Trump has fought to solidify his support in early-voting states like Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina, all of which he's visited in the past two weeks.
Part of the reason, the pollster suggested, could be increasing recognition among Florida Republicans that DeSantis could be a more viable option for the party in a contest against President Joe Biden in November 2024.
While Trump is currently expected to defeat Biden in the once-purple state by a formidable 10-point margin, according to the Florida Atlantic University poll, DeSantis is polling 13 points ahead of the president, suggesting the governor could pick up independent voters Trump has struggled to win over.
"These poll results could be an important motivator for DeSantis to promote his bid for the Republican primary, as he may be a stronger candidate against the incumbent," Florida Atlantic political scientist Dukhong Kim said in a press release announcing the findings.
He continued: "The poll indicates that the margin held by Trump or DeSantis at this time is larger than the 3.3 percent vote difference observed in the 2020 presidential election, suggesting that Florida is shifting towards becoming a safe state for Republicans."
Team DeSantis celebrated the poll news as well.
"Despite $17 million in attack ads trying to smear him, Governor Ron DeSantis holds a strong approval rating in the state because Floridians know he's the one who held the line when a Trump-backed Fauci threatened to lock them down," Dave Vasquez, national press secretary for DeSantis' Never Back Down PAC, told Newsweek.
"This poll also confirms what we've known for some time: Governor Ron DeSantis is the candidate who can send Joe Biden back to Delaware permanently—without excuses," Vasquez said.
While DeSantis' numbers are improving, the poll also underscores just how much ground he still has to make up nationally as the campaigns gear up for critical primaries in New Hampshire and Iowa this winter.
While DeSantis' campaign is among the best funded in the race, his numbers have remained stagnant or even fallen in national polls as new entrants to the race—former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and pharmaceutical executive Vivek Ramaswamy—have begun to eat into the governor's vote share.
Meanwhile, Trump—still the clear front-runner in Florida—continues to maintain his position at the top of the polls. While DeSantis' team celebrated their candidate's surge in the Florida Atlantic survey, Trump's team issued an email Monday afternoon blasting the poll's result to his followers and the press. It pointed out that the former president still leads DeSantis in the state by 20 points.
