After a poll released by St. Pete Polls Tuesday had U.S. Representative Charlie Crist (D-FL-13) leading Governor DeSantis, a different poll released by the Florida Chamber of Commerce (FCC) on Friday showed the exact opposite.
Rather than being behind Crist, the FCC poll shows DeSantis ahead 51% to 43%, with an approval rating of 54% among all poll participants as opposed to 43.7% in the St. Pete Poll.
The poll also showed DeSantis’ lead over Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, increased from 3.3% in the St. Pete Poll to 9% in the FCC poll.
According to the FCC, the poll was “conducted on July 26 through August 4, 2021 by Cherry Communications during live telephone interviews of likely voters, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. The sample size included 236 Democrats, 248 Republicans and 126 others for a total of 610 respondents statewide.”
In addition, the FCC release implies DeSantis’ approval rating is largely due to the support of 87% of Republicans and 52% of Non-Party Affiliates (NPA’s) who were surveyed. However, in the St. Pete Poll, only 73% of Republicans and 39.9% of NPA’s supported DeSantis.
In a statement made by FCC President and CEO Mark Wilson, regarding the poll, he said, “Thanks to the leadership and swift action taken by Governor DeSantis and the Florida Legislature, COVID-19 liability protections were signed into law, allowing Florida’s economy to remain open and jump to the 15th largest economy in the world – and voters clearly appreciate a Governor who does the right things.”
The discrepancy between the two polls is not new for DeSantis. In 2018, St Pete Polls released multiple surveys where they claimed voters favored then-Democratic candidate Andrew Gillum over DeSantis by five percentage points. DeSantis ended up beating Gillum 49.6% to 49.2%.
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Casey Owens is a contributing writer for The Florida Capital Star. Follow him on Twitter at @cowensreports. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Charlie Crist” by Charlie Crist.
