This story is not something that’s worth reading too much into. But it’s very interesting as far as temperature checks go. As you’re likely aware Donald Trump won Florida twice by margins far larger than DeSantis’s win. That makes the data coming out of polling firm Cygnal, all the more impressive. In the wake of the 60 Minutes hit piece on Governor DeSantis and Publix, Cygnal polled people and institutions within Florida and found that only Publix is more popular than Ron Desantis. They also found traditional news media is the least approved entity within Florida.
Among the key findings of Floridians, DeSantis’s approval rating is 55%, Biden’s 49%, Trump’s 47%. It’s notable that in the same poll, with the same pool of participants, DeSantis beats Trump by 8-points. It’d appear DeSantis has taken the Republican leadership mantle from Trump in Florida, at a minimum, already. DeSantis’s performance head-to-head with Biden is also instructive. There’s not much of a contest there either.
The contextual questions tell the story. DeSantis’s approval ratings on the issues of the day include vaccine distribution at 72% and pandemic policy at 60%. Floridians give DeSantis far higher ratings than either Biden or Trump on those issues. To that end, the 60 Minutes hit piece backfired big time. Sixty-six percent of Floridians view Governor DeSantis more positively after the hit piece.
Ironically, had 60 Minutes not attempted that, many Floridians may not have been aware of the extent of the Governor’s role in shaping Florida’s vaccine distribution. Once people became aware, they overwhelmingly supported DeSantis’s approach. This likely contributed to traditional news media’s 39% approval rating in Florida. If you believe in freedom, civil liberties, and truth, there's a lot to feel encouraged by in Florida. Floridians have their eyes wide open.
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