Gubernatorial Polling Update: Can Anyone Stop DeSantis?

We are 172 days from the midterm elections. That is 4,138 hours, or 248,319 minutes, or 14,899,150 seconds until Americans have yet another say in the representative republic (not that anyone is counting). That means it is the perfect time to showcase the current polling in the Florida gubernatorial race.

On the Democratic side, the primary will be held August 23^rd. The two main challengers to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) are Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) and Florida’s Commissioner of Agriculture, Nikki Fried (D-FL).

According to the RealClearPolitics average, DeSantis holds nearly a 9-point lead against Charlie Crist, who was the governor of Florida from 2007 to 2011 (as a Republican). The best polling for DeSantis has at +21 points (University of North Florida) and the worst for DeSantis is at +3 points (Susquehanna).

In a DeSantis vs. Fried matchup, DeSantis, on average, leads by almost 13 points. The best polling for DeSantis comes in at +23 (University of North Florida), and the worst for the governor comes it at +9 points (St. Pete Polls).

However, perhaps the most surprising numbers come in the Democratic head-to-head. According to the RCP average, Charlie Crist is currently leading by 19.3 points against Nikki Fried. The reason this might seem shocking is because despite Crist serving as governor in the past, Nikki Fried was one of the few Democrats to win a statewide election in 2018 when she beat Matt Caldwell (R) by just 6,753 votes.

However, if this election were a football game, we are just entering the second quarter, and there is a lot of football left to be played.