A poll of Florida voters released Wednesday shows strong approval of Ron DeSantis’ performance during his first two months as governor.
His performance has the approval of 59 percent of Florida voters in the Quinnipiac University poll, with just 17 percent disapproval. That’s a net positive of 42 percentage points.
Quinnipiac said DeSantis has the best score for a Florida governor in 10 years.
The Republican governor even does well among Democrats in the Quinnipiac poll, with more approving than disapproving of his performance. DeSantis’ high marks come just four months after he defeated Democrat Andrew Gillum by just 0.4 percent of the vote.
Democrats approved of DeSantis’ performance, 42 percent to 28 percent, for a net positive of 14 percentage points.
Among Republicans, 82 percent approve and 5 percent disapprove, which gives him a net positive of 77 percentage points.
Independent voters approve of the governor’s performance, 56 percent to 17 percent disapprove, a net plus of 39 points.
“Ron DeSantis won the governorship by the slimmest of margins, yet in his first two-plus months in office he has gotten off to a strong start. His 59 percent job approval today is better than most of his counterparts around the country,” Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll said in a written analysis of the results.
He attributed part of DeSantis’ success to “his taking on issues such as the environment on which Republicans often don’t focus,” adding that the governor and other state politicians are “benefitting from an overall sunny mood among Floridians who are happy about the economy and life in general.”
For U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla, voters gave 50 percent approval and 34 percent disapproval to his performance, a net positive of 16 percentage points.
Freshman U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., the former governor, fared somewhat worse, with 42 percent approving and 38 percent disapproving. That’s a net positive of 4 percentage points.
Quinnipiac also reported:
–67 percent of Florida voters are “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with the way things are going in the state today. That ties the highest satisfaction rate since Quinnipiac asked this question in 2004. Another 30 percent are “somewhat dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied.”
–71 percent of voters say Florida’s economy is “excellent” or “good,” the highest level ever for this measure, while 27 percent say the economy is “not so good” or “poor.” Florida’s economy is getting better, 37 percent of voters say, 12 percent say it is getting worse and 49 percent say it’s staying about the same.
Quinnipiac surveyed 1,058 Florida voters from Wednesday through Monday with live callers to landlines and cell phones. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Breakdowns for smaller groups, such as Democrats, Republicans and independents, have higher margins of error.
Pollster ratings from statisticians at fivethirtyeight.com give Quinnipiac an A minus last year for its data gathering and accuracy. It missed the mark in the governor’s race, with four general election polls showing Gillum winning by an average of 6.3 percentage points. That was within the polls’ margin of error for the polls.
aman@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4550 or Twitter @browardpolitics