Midterm Watch 2022: Even Left-Leaning Polls Show That Florida’s Hispanics Are Backing Ron DeSantis Over Charlie Crist

Polling by the Left-leaning Telemundo/LX News poll, conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, found that Florida’s Hispanic voters are backing Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. The poll found that Hispanic voters supported DeSantis over Crist by a margin of 51% to 44%. The polling also showed that Hispanic voters viewed DeSantis’s decision, which was branded by the media as a “stunt”, to send illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard was approved by 50%, with only 43% of Hispanic voters not supporting the move by DeSantis.

NBC News noted DeSantis’s move to fly illegal immigrants to the left-wing Martha’s Vineyard was best received by the Latino immigrant voters, with a margin of 52% supporting the move, while just 41% viewed the decision negatively.

The Daily Wire reports:

The report noted that the poll showing DeSantis’ 7-point lead with Latino voters comes after DeSantis lost the Latino vote during his 2018 gubernatorial victory over Democrat Andrew Gillum.

Mason-Dixon pollster Brad Coker said that DeSantis’ charisma and attitude has won over a lot of Latino voters.

“There are lots of Hispanic voters in this state who really like the governor’s style, this strongman who won’t back down,” Coker said. “And Crist has no mojo.”

Republican strategist Giancarlo Sopo said that Democrats fundamentally misunderstand what Latino voters believe about immigration.

“You can’t ignore the 800-pound gorilla: The economy sucks for a lot of people,” Coker said. “And in the last stretch of the election, it comes down to a referendum on a sitting president and how is the economy? On both counts the Democrats come up short.”

The poll comes as DeSantis and Crist met Monday night for their first and only debate before the election.

The two candidates touched on a variety of issues ranging from leftists supporting genital mutilation for minors, to supporting an unborn baby’s right to live, protecting girls from having to compete against biological males in sports, border security, the economy, education, the death penalty, and more.

DeSantis, who has raised more money for his political operation than all other potential 2024 candidates and who has the highest net approval rating of any major U.S. politician, responded to Crist’s attack by saying, “I just want to make things very, very clear the only worn out old donkey I’m looking to put out to pasture is Charlie Crist.”

Ron DeSantis performed well in his debate against Charlie Crist. Crist and the media have had very little to dwell on after the debate aside from the possibility of DeDanstis running for president, and Crist choosing to constantly bring up DeSantis’s views on abortion. When the “don’t say gay” bill was brought up during the debates, DeSantis cheers from the crowd comparable to Trump’s debates in 2016. The media chose to hang their hat for months on the “don’t say gay” bill, and even Disney came out against it, however, despite endlessly talking about what they painted to be the most homophobic bill in recent memory, when DeSantis said,

“I’m simply defending parents and students… it’s inappropriate to tell a 6-year-old that they were born in the wrong body. It’s inappropriate to tell an 8-year-old that they may have been born a girl, but maybe they’re really a boy.”

Following this statement during the debate between DeSantis and Crist, the crowd erupted in favor of his message – a reaction that Charlie Crist didn’t receive throughout the entire night.

AAN Staff