Incumbent Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis holds a double-digit lead against his Republican-turned-Democrat opponent, Charlie Crist, in a new poll released Wednesday by the University of North Florida Public Opinion Research Lab (PORL). 

A total 55% of voters indicated they would vote for DeSantis, 41% indicated a vote for Crist, less than 1% said they would vote for someone else and 4% did not know or refused to answer. 

“Given DeSantis’s historic fundraising and popularity among Republicans, his lead in this race is not surprising,” Dr. Michael Binder, PORL faculty director and UNF professor of political science, wrote in a press release. “The surprise in these numbers is that a statewide race in Florida is closer to a blowout than a recount.”

DeSantis and Crist faced off in their first and only gubernatorial debate on Monday where hot topics included abortion, the COVID-19 pandemic, President Joe Biden, education and DeSantis being a potential contender for the 2024 presidential election.

“I know that Charlie is interested in talking about 2024 and Joe Biden, but I just want to make things very, very clear: The only worn-out old donkey I’m looking to put out to pasture is Charlie Crist,” DeSantis said of 66-year-old Crist.

Later, the former Florida governor slapped back, “You won’t even say if you want to be the governor of Florida after this election,” reported the Associated Press. 

At the time of publication, over 1.2 million early voting ballots have already been cast by Florida voters with election day less than two weeks away. 

Republicans also lead in all of the races for Florida’s Senate seat, attorney general and agricultural commissioner, according to the PORL poll. 

Taking a majority, 54% of voters indicated a vote for incumbent Marco Rubio and 43% indicated a vote for Democrat Val Demings in the race for Florida’s Senate seat. The remaining 3% didn’t know or refused to answer. 

“Demings has raised a lot of money and has been on the attack for months, but Rubio is up double digits,” Binder wrote in the release. “Florida has become a red state, it will likely take an exceptionally weak Republican candidate for Democrats to win statewide – and Rubio is not a weak candidate.”

Leading by 14 points in the race for attorney general, 50% of voters indicated they would vote for Republican candidate Ashley Moody and Democrat Aramis Ayala took 36% of the vote. The remaining 14% of respondents to the poll said they don’t know or refused to respond. 

Similarly, 44% of respondents to the poll said they would vote for Republican Wilton Simpson and 39% said they would vote for Democrat Naiomi Esther Blemur. The remaining 17% said they didn’t know or refused to respond. 

“The Attorney General and Agricultural Commissioner races are a little less exciting for most folks, and these tend to go down party lines,” the PORL faculty director wrote. “As is the case with a lot of these races, the outcome will largely come down to who turns out the most voters – Republicans or Democrats – and it looks like Republicans are going to win that fight.”

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