OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has gotten some really good news ahead of the November election.
According to a new survey, the Republican leader, who is vying for reelection, leads his Democratic challenger, Rep. Charlie Crist, by double digits, despite suffering non-stop attacks by Democrats and the left-wing corporate media.
The Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy poll found that 52 percent of likely voters said they plan to cast a ballot for the GOP governor versus 41 percent who said they planned to vote for Crist. That’s an 11-point deficit.
Notably, the survey found that DeSantis is leading Crist in almost every area of the state with the exception of the southeastern portion that has traditionally remained in Democratic hands. Crist served as a GOP governor of the Sunshine State for a single term, from 2007-2011.
The Washington Examiner noted further:
DeSantis also enjoys high approval ratings in the state, with 55% approving of his job performance, according to the poll. Those numbers are expected to change in the coming weeks as the governor continues to lead the state’s response to Hurricane Ian, which tore through Florida last week and destroyed several buildings and left several without power.
Some have criticized DeSantis’s response to the hurricane, primarily pointing to the delayed evacuation of Lee County, which was hit hard by Ian. However, others have argued that local officials are responsible for making those decisions rather than the governor.
“I don’t think it was a problem, and, if it was, the hurricane just wiped it out,” Brad Coker, a pollster for Mason-Dixon, said, according to NBC News. “DeSantis is going to be Governor Hurricane for the next couple weeks. The disadvantage Crist has is twofold: He’s completely out of the news, and he never managed a hurricane, so he can’t stand up and point to what he did. So Crist is totally, totally defanged.”
The state of Florida has been trending Republican for years but the party has managed to outpace Democratic voter registration over the past year for the first time in more than a century, all under DeSantis’ leadership.
Nevertheless, the governor is continuing to campaign even as he has his hands full dealing with the fallout of Ian, which he has been blamed for botching by Democrats.
The GOP governor went to a Waffle House restaurant in Punta Gorda over the weekend, where he manned the griddle to fix breakfast for emergency workers.
“@WaffleHouse is one of the first restaurants in Charlotte County to reopen and provide hot meals as we work together to serve Floridians after #HurricaneIan,” DeSantis noted on Twitter. “Thank you for providing meals to the linemen working to restore power.”
.@WaffleHouse is one of the first restaurants in Charlotte County to reopen and provide hot meals as we work together to serve Floridians after #HurricaneIan.
Thank you for providing meals to the linemen working to restore power. pic.twitter.com/w0AkexcUeU
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) October 1, 2022
A video clip of DeSantis preparing food was posted to the platform by his campaign.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, Waffle House is open and serving food to first responders. @GovRonDeSantis was in Charlotte County today making breakfast for linemen. pic.twitter.com/iSAb7rJdak
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 #FloridaStrong (@DeSantisWarRoom) October 1, 2022
“DeSantis issued updates on his administration’s hurricane recovery efforts after surveying numerous devastated areas and meeting with officials in the impacted communities,” The Daily Wire reported. “The governor’s office said that there are 42,000 lineman responding to the more than 1.2 million power outages caused by the catastrophic damage from Hurricane Ian. The lineman have already restored power to more than 1.4 million Floridians.”
Help from other states is pouring into Florida as well.
“The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) has received a major boost in support from the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), gaining 1,800 personnel from more than two dozen states that have arrived in the state to assist in recovery efforts,” the outlet noted.
In a statement, DeSantis’ office said: “FDEM is working with feeding partners to open kitchens for impacted and displaced residents. More than 63,000 hot meals were served on-scene at food banks in Alachua, Brevard, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Flagler, Hardee, Hillsborough, Lee, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Orange, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole and Union counties yesterday, Friday, September 30. More than 100,000 hot meals will be served today, October 1.”
It added: “FDEM has six active fuel depots and is staging an additional four fuel depots today throughout Central and Southwest Florida to ensure first responders have the fuel they need to conduct search and rescue operations. More than 1.2 million gallons of fuels have been mobilized.”
