UNF Poll Of Florida Voters On DeSantis Job Performance, Recreational Pot, Other Topics

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis/Credit: Gov. Ron DeSantis Transition Team

UNF’s latest poll finds a large majority of Florida voters approve of the job Gov. Ron DeSantis is doing. The poll also asked a variety of other questions. [ Read the story ]

Poll Questions And Results

n=stands for the number of respondents.

Do you approve or disapprove of the way that Ron DeSantis is handling his job as Governor of Florida?

Answer Options Florida Voters n=658
Strongly Approve36%
Somewhat Approve36%
Somewhat Disapprove8%
Strongly Disapprove9%
Don’t Know11%

 

Answer Options

 

Democratic Voters n=241 Republican Voters n=234 NPA Voters n=183
Strongly Approve20%58%31%
Somewhat Approve36%33%38%
Somewhat Disapprove16%3%6%
Strongly Disapprove17%2%7%
Don’t Know11%4%19%

Do you approve or disapprove of the way that Marco Rubio is handling his job as United States Senator? 

Answer Options Florida Voters n=650
Strongly Approve20%
Somewhat Approve28%
Somewhat Disapprove15%
Strongly Disapprove19%
Don’t Know18%

 

Answer Options

 

Democratic Voters n=241 Republican Voters n=230 NPA Voters n=180
Strongly Approve8%37%15%
Somewhat Approve18%39%27%
Somewhat Disapprove24%10%9%
Strongly Disapprove31%6%22%
Don’t Know20%10%27%

Do you approve or disapprove of the way that Rick Scott is handling his job as United States Senator? 

Answer Options Florida Voters n=657
Strongly Approve21%
Somewhat Approve28%
Somewhat Disapprove11%
Strongly Disapprove21%
Don’t Know19%

 

Answer Options  Democratic Voters n=241 Republican Voters n=232 NPA Voters n=181
Strongly Approve10%39%14%
Somewhat Approve18%38%28%
Somewhat Disapprove17%5%11%
Strongly Disapprove39%6%18%
Don’t Know17%13%29%

Do you approve or disapprove of the way that Nikki Fried is handling her job as Florida Commissioner of Agriculture? 

Answer Options Florida Voters n=645
Strongly Approve15%
Somewhat Approve26%
Somewhat Disapprove6%
Strongly Disapprove4%
Don’t Know49%

 

Answer Options  Democratic Voters n=239 Republican Voters n=228 NPA Voters n=181
Strongly Approve14%15%16%
Somewhat Approve27%29%22%
Somewhat Disapprove6%8%4%
Strongly Disapprove4%4%4%
Don’t Know48%45%54%

Soon, Florida’s legislative session will begin. Please tell me whether you support or oppose the following policy changes in Florida.

Allowing adults in Florida to legally possess small amounts of marijuana for recreational use? 

Answer Options Florida Voters n=664
Strongly Support44%
Somewhat Support20%
Somewhat Oppose9%
Strongly Oppose24%
Don’t Know3%

 

Answer Options

 

Democratic Voters n=246 Republican Voters n=232 NPA Voters n=188
Strongly Support54%32%46%
Somewhat Support19%22%18%
Somewhat Oppose10%11%6%
Strongly Oppose15%31%26%
Don’t Know1%5%4%

Requiring businesses in Florida to use a federal immigration database, E-Verify, to check whether their workers are eligible for employment? 

Answer Options Florida Voters n=663
Strongly Support49%
Somewhat Support22%
Somewhat Oppose10%
Strongly Oppose13%
Don’t Know5%

 

Answer Options  Democratic Voters n=242 Republican Voters n=235 NPA Voters n=185
Strongly Support37%66%44%
Somewhat Support26%15%26%
Somewhat Oppose14%6%10%
Strongly Oppose17%9%12%
Don’t Know6%3%8%

Allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses in Florida? 

Answer Options Florida Voters n=664
Strongly Support20%
Somewhat Support18%
Somewhat Oppose14%
Strongly Oppose45%
Don’t Know4%

 

Answer Options

 

Democratic Voters n=243 Republican Voters n=234 NPA Voters n=186
Strongly Support34%6%22%
Somewhat Support27%6%20%
Somewhat Oppose14%14%12%
Strongly Oppose22%73%38%
Don’t Know4%1%8%

Amendment Four was passed in Florida by ballot initiative in 2018, restoring the voting rights of Floridians with felony convictions after they complete all terms of their sentence. In early 2019, Governor DeSantis signed a bill redefining the qualifications for restorations to include payment of court-ordered fines, fees and restitution. Do you support or oppose this change to the original ballot measure?

Answer Options Florida Voters n=653
Strongly Support35%
Somewhat Support20%
Somewhat Oppose7%
Strongly Oppose25%
Don’t Know13%

 

Answer Options  Democratic Voters n=240 Republican Voters n=228 NPA Voters n=29%
Strongly Support23%51%29%
Somewhat Support18%23%21%
Somewhat Oppose10%7%4%
Strongly Oppose38%10%27%
Don’t Know12%9%20%

How do you view this change to the original ballot measure? Is it: (Choices Rotated) 

Answer Options Florida Voters n=636
A necessary change to an unclear ballot measure39%
An unconstitutional addition that undermines voting rights35%
Don’t Know25%

 

Answer Options

 

Democratic Voters n=235 Republican Voters n=222 NPA Voters n=179
A necessary change to an unclear ballot measure24%57%37%
An unconstitutional addition that undermines voting rights54%18%32%
Don’t Know22%25%30%

Do you know anyone who has been convicted of a felony? 

Answer Options Florida Voters n=660
Yes47%
No51%
Don’t Know2%

 

Answer Options  Democratic Voters n=243 Republican Voters n=229 NPA Voters n=182
Yes44%51%46%
No54%47%54%
Don’t Know2%2%

Survey Demographics

Party Registration  Florida Voters  n=669
Republican37%
Democrat35%
NPA and other28%

 

Age Florida Voters  n=669
18 to 2410%
25 to 3416%
35 to 4415%
45 to 5516%
56 to 6418%
65 and older27%

 

Race Florida Voters  n=669
White (not Hispanic)63%
Black (not Hispanic)13%
Hispanic17%
Other7%

 

Sex Florida Voters  n=669
Male46%
Female54%

 

Telephone Florida Voters  n=660
Landline23%
Cell phone77%
Refusal<1%

What is the highest grade in school or year of college you have completed?

Education Florida Voters  n=660
Less than high school4%
High school graduate21%
Some college45%
College graduate19%
Post graduate degree11%
Refusal<1%

What language was this survey completed in?

Survey language completed in… Florida Voters  n=668
English96%
Spanish4%

Methodology

The UNF Florida statewide poll was conducted and sponsored by the Public Opinion

Research Lab at the University of North Florida, from Monday, Oct. 14, 2019, through Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019, by live callers via the telephone from 5 to 9 p.m. during the week and noon to 9 p.m. on the weekends with a maximum of five callbacks attempted. UNF undergraduate students and employees conducted interviews in English and Spanish. Data collection took place at the PORL facility with its 27-station Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) system. The phone numbers used for this survey were sourced from the Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, update of the Florida Voter File. The sample frame was comprised of registered Florida voters. Overall, there were 669 completed surveys of Florida registered voters, 18 years of age or older.

The margin of sampling error for the total sample is +/- 3.8 percentage points. The breakdown of completed responses on a landline phone to a cell phone was 23% to 77%, with less than 1% unidentified. Through hand dialing, an interviewer upon reaching the individual as specified in the voter file asked that respondent to participate, regardless of landline telephone or cell phone. Data were then weighted by partisan registration, age, race, sex and education. Education weights were created from the 2017 American Community Survey (ACS). Partisan registration, sex, race and age weights were created from the Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019, update of the Florida Voter File to match the active registered voters in Florida. These demographic characteristics were pulled from the voter file list.

 

All weighted demographic variables were applied using the SPSS version 25 rake weighting function, which won’t assign a weight if one of the demographics being weighted on is missing. In this case, respondents missing a response for education were given a weight of 1.  There were no statistical adjustments made due to design effects. This study had a 27.5% response rate. The American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) Response Rate 3 (RR3) calculation was used which consists of an estimate of what proportion of cases of unknown eligibility are truly eligible. This survey was sponsored by the UNF PORL and directed by Dr. Michael Binder, UNF associate professor of political science.