After eight years of failed leadership from Republican corporatist and Trump shill Rick Scott, Florida may be on its way to having a governor with policy ambitions like “Medicare-for-All” who’s earned the support of prominent figures like Bernie Sanders.
Democratic Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum won his party’s Florida gubernatorial primary race just this past week, and now, a new poll has him ahead of his Republican general election challenger by a comfortable margin. The Public Policy Polling survey finds that 48 percent of Florida voters back Gillum, while only 43 percent support the Donald Trump-backed Republican Florida gubernatorial nominee Ron DeSantis. These numbers come from the first poll to be completed after the respective primary elections held just this past week.
Part of Gillum’s leading margin comes from his overwhelming support among those with no party affiliation. He leads DeSantis in that voting bloc by a whopping 34 percent. There are nearly 3.5 million voters registered with no party affiliation in the state of Florida — far more than enough to tip an election in the ambitious Democrat’s favor.
Other measurements the poll took include a finding that more Floridians have a favorable view of Gillum than DeSantis. 45 percent view the incumbent Tallahassee mayor favorably, while only 41 percent think similarly of DeSantis, who currently serves as a U.S. Congressman from south Florida.
The polling is bad news for Donald Trump, who has taken to personally stumping for DeSantis. He appeared in Tampa ahead of the primary election in support of the candidate and has publicly spoken in his support in the time since he won. Should Gillum win the Florida governor’s seat this November, he would double as the first black governor the state’s ever had and serve as part of a broad electoral rebuke to Donald Trump’s policies.
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