{"id":610769,"date":"2021-08-04T11:05:22","date_gmt":"2021-08-04T15:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=610769"},"modified":"2021-08-04T11:05:25","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T15:05:25","slug":"florida-poll-shows-desantis-running-neck-and-neck-with-democratic-challenger-charlie-crist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/florida-poll-shows-desantis-running-neck-and-neck-with-democratic-challenger-charlie-crist\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Poll Shows DeSantis Running Neck-And-Neck With Democratic Challenger Charlie Crist"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fflorida-poll-shows-desantis-running-neck-and-neck-with-democratic-challenger-charlie-crist%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=610769&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is running just behind Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist, a new poll shows.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/floridapolitics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/StPetePolls_2021_State_August3_P7F9W.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">survey<\/a>, from Florida-based St. Pete Polls, found that 45% of voters would back <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/05\/04\/democratic-congressman-former-governor-charlie-crist-oust-ron-desantis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Crist<\/a>, who served as governor from 2007 to 2011, while nearly 44% would back DeSantis and 11% remained undecided. Crist\u2019s lead, however, was within the 3,900-person poll\u2019s 1.6-point margin of error.<\/p>\n<p>The poll is slightly surprising given DeSantis\u2019 high profile \u2014 forecasters widely see him as a favorite in 2022 and a presidential contender in 2024 \u2014 and given the Democratic field seeking to oust him next November. A St. Pete <a href=\"http:\/\/stpetepolls.org\/files\/StPetePolls_2021_State_DEM_May26_NC7H3.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">poll<\/a> from May found that 38% of voters thought Crist had a 50-50 chance of beating DeSantis, while 26% and 29% gave DeSantis and Crist the edge, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>The survey also comes amid a massive spike in coronavirus cases statewide, fueled by the more contagious delta variant. Florida is averaging close to 20,000 new cases each day, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#trends_dailytrendscases\">data<\/a> from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a number up nearly 1000% from a month ago and by far the highest of any state. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/07\/23\/kids-breathe-florida-desantis-mask-mandates-cities-clamp-down-school-year\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: \u2018We Need Our Kids To Breathe\u2019: DeSantis Vows No Mask Mandates As Major US Cities Clamp Down While COVID-19 Cases Rise)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Deaths have also increased in the state, but by a <a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#trends_dailytrendscases\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">far smaller margin<\/a> since more vulnerable populations have gotten vaccinated at higher rates.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7240742\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"33\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7240742\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7240742\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1322890815-scaled-1.jpg\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1322890815-scaled-1.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1322890815-180x120.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1322890815-620x413-1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1322890815-768x512-1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1322890815-1536x1024-1.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1322890815-2048x1365-1.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7240742\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rep. Charlie Crist campaigns in Lauderhill, Florida in June. (Joe Raedle\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>DeSantis has doubled down on his hands-off approach to fighting the virus, going so far as to <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/07\/30\/ron-desantis-executive-order-children-mask-schools\/\">ban mask mandates<\/a> in schools and businesses from requiring vaccines for their employees and customers even as <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/08\/03\/covid-19-hospitalizations-record-florida-ron-desantis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hospitalizations reached a pandemic-high<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Florida, there will be no lockdowns, there will be no school closures, there will be no restrictions and no mandates in the state of Florida,\u201d DeSantis said at a&nbsp;press conference&nbsp;Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Crist on Tuesday called for requiring state employees to be vaccinated, saying that \u201cThe way to stamp out the virus, and protect our public health, economy and our jobs, is to get everyone vaccinated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation, DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw acknowledged the shift in hospitalizations to younger patients, and said that the governor continued to encourage Floridians to get vaccinated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe recognize that cases and hospitalizations have shifted to a younger demographic because we have been so successful with vaccinating seniors,\u201d Pushaw said. \u201cAgain, we must continue this stride to expand vaccination rates across eligible age groups. As stated by Governor DeSantis, \u2018These vaccines are saving lives, and reducing the mortality of COVID-19.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is running just behind Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist, a new poll shows.The survey, from Florida-based St. Pete Polls, found that 45% of voters would back &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-610769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}