Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) leads President Joe Biden in a nationwide head-to-head matchup, a USA TODAY/Suffolk University survey released this week found.
When matched up against the popular Florida governor, who defeated Biden ally Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) by roughly 1.5 million votes in the last election, Biden falls short.
In that scenario, DeSantis leads with 47 percent support, followed by Biden with 43 percent support. Further, 65 percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning voters want DeSantis to run for president.
Former President Donald Trump fails to perform as well against Biden in this particular survey, as Biden leads him by seven percent — 47 percent to 40 percent. The survey also shows Republicans preferring DeSantis over Trump by 23 percent.
The overall survey, taken December 7-11, 2022, among 1,000 registered voters, has a +/- 3.1 percent margin of error. The margin of error for Republican-specific data is +/- 5.1 percent.
However, DeSantis has shown no signs of an intention to run in 2024. Rep. Crist attempted to make the rumor of 2024 aspirations a centerpiece of his debate performance against DeSantis prior to the election, demanding the governor commit to a full term as governor, despite the fact that neither candidate agreed to ask each other questions during the debate.
“Ron, you talked about Joe Biden a lot. I understand. You think you’re going to be running against him,” Crist said, ignoring the connection, as DeSantis frequently noted that Crist is a Biden ally and would impose Biden’s poor policies in Florida.
“Well, listen. I know that Charlie’s interested in talking about 2024 and Joe Biden, but I just want to make things very, very clear,” DeSantis said in response to Crist demanding an answer. “The only worn-out old donkey I’m looking to put out to pasture is Charlie Crist.”
DeSantis ultimately did just that, winning the election by over 1.5 million votes, and even flipping traditional Democrat strongholds such as Miami-Dade.
DeSantis has remained coy, however, refusing to wholly dismiss the prospect of running, spurring contention with Trump, who has already announced his 2024 bid. The speculation, however, is not new. DeSantis even dispelled the rumors in September 2021, deeming them “purely manufactured.”
“All the speculation about me [running for president] is purely manufactured,” he told reporters at the time.
“I just do my job and we work hard … I hear all this stuff and honestly, it’s nonsense,” he added.
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