A new poll in the 2022 Florida Senate race has bad news for incumbent Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.
The latest St. Pete Polls survey shows Rubio only holds a narrow two-point lead over his Democratic challenger, Rep. Val Demings. Rubio leads 48 to 46 percent, which is well within the margin of error, meaning that the two are in a statistical tie, something that has to alarm Rubio and the GOP, which is desperate to gain seats in the Senate in the upcoming midterm elections.
And that’s not the only bad news for Republicans when it comes to the Sunshine State.
Ron DeSantis, the incumbent governor of Florida, has seen his poll numbers collapse as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hit the state particularly hard. Florida is regularly the state with the most daily cases and deaths from coronavirus, and DeSantis’ stance against mask mandates isn’t helping his popularity.
A poll released ten days ago shows that DeSantis’ popularity has fallen by a full 10 points:
“(The poll) found that of 3,952 respondents to the poll on 2 and 3 August, as few as 44 per cent approved of the Florida Republican.”
That same poll also had bad news for DeSantis on the issue of mask mandates, with 62% of respondents saying they think masks should be required for all schoolchildren. The governor has threatened to punish school districts in the state that mandate the wearing of masks.
DeSantis is locked in a difficult race for reelection with Democratic front-runner Charlie Crist, who is the former governor of Florida and has significant name recognition among voters.
If Florida happens to elect both Demings and Crist, 2022 will wind up being a disaster for Republicans, especially since many in the GOP see DeSantis as one of the top candidates for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
