Warning signs for Florida Democrats in new poll showing low approval rating for President Biden

Alarm bells keep going off for Florida Democrats as they enter the 2022 election cycle.

The latest warning sign came last week in the form of a new Florida poll showing President Joe Biden’s approval rating in the gutter.

Just 39% of Florida voters approve of the job Biden is doing, compared with 53% who disapprove, according to the Suffolk University/USA TODAY poll, and only 28% believe the country is headed in the right direction.

Biden’s low approval rating could make him a drag on Florida Democrats trying to win the governor’s mansion and key congressional races.

The poll showed that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio are well ahead of their Democratic challengers right now. 

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David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, cautioned about reading too much into the numbers at this point. He noted that 29% of Florida voters have never heard of U.S. Rep. Val Demings, the Democrat challenging Rubio, and another 29% don’t have an opinion about her.

“On the surface, it looks like a longshot bid for Val Demings, who trails by 8 points with just 10% undecided,” Paleologos said, but “as Demings introduces herself to more voters, her deficit could narrow, giving her the potential to flip the seat.”

Demings should have the resources to get her name out. She raised more money than Rubio in each of the last three quarters.

Another bright spot for Democrats in the poll is that DeSantis’ record on COVID-19 is not as popular as his confident public pronouncements against public health mandates might suggest. A majority of voters – 53% – rated the governor’s handling of the pandemic as fair or poor, compared with 47% who rated it excellent or good.

Yet the silver linings for Florida Democrats are few right now, with Republicans surpassing them in registered voters for the first time and DeSantis raising big money for his reelection bid.

Related: Florida GOP leaders unveil new bill with election law changes sought by DeSantis

By the way: Marco Rubio again trails Democratic challenger Val Demings in quarterly fundraising

Republicans also may have an advantage on the issues Florida voters care most about. The poll shows that the top three issues for voters are the economy, immigration and inflation. DeSantis has emphasized protecting the economy during the pandemic, while hammering Biden on inflation and immigration.

Yet while DeSantis is leading Democratic challengers Charlie Crist and Nikki Fried in the poll, he trails former President Donald Trump in a hypothetical 2024 presidential primary matchup. Trump topped DeSantis in the poll with 47% support, compared to 40% for the governor, although the gap is within the margin of error.

The live telephone survey of 500 likely voters was conducted from Jan. 26 to Jan. 29. It has a 4.4 percentage point margin of error, and 7.4 point margin of error on the questions about Republican primary races.

Follow Zac Anderson on Twitter at @zacjanderson. He can be reached at zac.anderson@heraldtribune.com